Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Forgotten Past
by JC Fabulous
Summary: After Third Impact, Shinji Ikari is having nightmares. But are these just nightmares or are they memories of a forgotten past? What do these images possibly mean? And do they have to do with the Angels? Please R&R.
1. Introduction

**Neon Genesis Evangelion – The Forgotten Past, Commencement of Third Impact**

"Speech"

"_Telepathy"_

[Thought]

This is a Re-launch of a fanfic I wrote years ago, I've been going over it recently, changing a few grammar and spelling mistakes, and got back in the mood to mess around with it some more and write a few new chapters. However, since it has been years since I last did anything with it I'm re-launching this story as if it were brand new to attract a new fan base and draw in a few old ones as well. I hope everyone likes it.

**NGE/Prophecy X-Over**

This story takes place after the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, in the last scenes of the final episode, you see Shinji struggling with himself and his self worth. He is shown at what his life could be like as a normal kid. Going to school with all of his close friends, having a loving family and not a worry in the world, just any other normal teenage boy, he was happy. Asuka was his best friend who would wake him up in the morning to make sure he makes it to school, Rei was a normal teenage girl, with a wide spectrum of emotions and Misato was his teacher. After he finally learned to accept himself for he is and what he wanted out of life, he became surrounded by everyone in his life, congratulating him on his acceptance to love himself and others.

**Year: 2020 AD**  
**Plot Summary:** Shinji Ikari defeated SEELE's plan, to unite all of humanity into a single consciousness under the Human Instrumentality Project and to create their own God using EVA Unit-01 as the template, and was granted what he truly wished for above all other things, to live a normal life and be happy. All of his friends were given the same gift and were brought back to life because of his willingness to accept himself for who he is, and whom he wanted to become, and thus Third Impact never took place and humanity was saved. Four years later, Shinji and his friends, Toji, Kensuke, Asuka, Rei, Hikari and everyone else, are now seniors in high school and are looking forward to the future, and the rest of their lives. However, as the school year progresses, Shinji is having flashes of frightening images of people dying and giant monsters fighting in the middle of the city, and nightmares of his friends getting hurt and killed. He doesn't know what to make of these images but they are getting worse as each day passes, and they feel so real, like old forgotten memories, as if he's actually lived through them. But he can't figure out why, and now the Angels have returned to carry out what they've wanted the most, to erase mankind from existence and to return to the ways before our birth, when they were loved above all of God's creations. With the aid from God's most trusted angels, Shinji Ikari must completely relive the memories of his original, forgotten past in order to regain the knowledge to defeat the Rebel Angels and save humanity once again.

**Disclaimer:** I do not, in anyway own the rights to Neon Genesis Evangelion, or to any of the characters. Licensed by AD Vision; Character Designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, and are Trademarks/Copyrights of GAINAX / Project Eva - TV Tokyo - NAS. I am in no way advertising, or selling the characters names, likenesses, trademarks or logos mentioned in these stories for profit. I am simply borrowing them to create fictional pieces of writing for personal entertainment purposes only.


	2. Chapter 1

**Neon Genesis Evangelion - The Forgotten Past, Commencement of the Third Impact**

Written By: JCFabulous

**CHAPTER ONE**

Asuka and Rei were sitting together in a hot tub, laughing, giggling and splashing water on each other as they played a tickle fighting game, and he noticed that they weren't wearing any swim suits. They were completely naked, walking closer to the hot tub; they stop playing with each other and wink at him, motioning him to come closer. As he walked even closer, they motioned for him to enter the hot tub with them; agreeably he stripped to his boxers and hopped in with Asuka and Rei. The water was extremely warm and he grinned stupidly as the two beautiful, wet, and naked women made their way over to him on the other side of the tub. Pressing themselves against him, he could feel every part of them. Rei made her way around Shinji and pressed her supple, naked body against his back and ran her hands across his chest. Shinji could clearly make out the soft mounds of Rei's breast as she leaned against him; he was blushing heavily now, his face turning bright red. Asuka was directly in front of Shinji now, with a malicious looking grin on her face, he could feel her hands sliding her hands up his calves, and then to his thighs.

"A-Asuka..." he began to stutter, but immediately silenced as Rei's finger touched his lips to remain quiet.

She continued her path up to Shinji's boxers and slowly began to pull it down. As she did, he couldn't help but get excited as the thoughts of what were to come filled his head.

"Shinji..." Asuka's voice was sultry and seductive as she leaned in a mere few inches away from his face.

"Yes Asuka." He answered moving in closer to Asuka's lips.

"Wake up Baka." She smiled at him

"What?"

"I said wake up baka! It's out first day of the senior year and you want to sleep in!"

"Wha.. Huh?" Shinji opened his eyes to see Asuka dressed in her school uniform and standing in his room.

[Oh man, it was just a dream... Damn it to hell.] He said to himself as he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes.

"What do you think you're doing? Come on get up and get dressed already." She said as she grabbed the sheets and yanked the covers away.

"No!" Shinji shouted

"Ahhhh!" Asuka screamed and notice the very obvious, very raised 'tent' formed in front of Shinji's boxers. "Pervert! No wonder you didn't want to get up!" She screamed again as she threw the covers back, covering up his 'campsite' if you will.

"Well I can't help it, it's natural for a guy to wake up like this." Obviously embarrassed that Asuka, his best friend since early childhood, had caught him in an awkward situation. Which wasn't the first time.

"Oh really? Natural huh? So tell me Shinji, just what were you dreaming about to give you this 'natural' reaction so early in the morning? Hmm..." She said in a sly tone, narrowing her eyes.

"Uh..." He gulped as he tried to think of a quick answer and came up with nothing. "Uh, nothing... Nothing really." He said blushing red, as a big bead of sweat formed on his head.

"Yeah right, I bet you were dreaming about me weren't you? So what was I doing in your dream Shinji? Was I naked? Was I pleasuring you?" she teased at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What! How did you know?" He blurted out and immediately regretted saying the words

"What! Oh my god I was just kidding! You pervert, how dare you dream about me like that!" The palm of her hand met with the side of Shinji's face, and she instantly turned around and exited Shinji's room.

Sitting sat there with a dumbfounded look on his face, and in pain from Asuka's slap; the handprint glowed red on his left cheek, and it pulsed and throbbed. "Well I guess I deserved that... But the dream was worth it."

Ten minutes later, Shinji came out of his room, fully dressed in his school clothes and was putting on his last sock on his right foot while hopping to the front door where Asuka was waiting impatiently for him to hurry.

"Come on Shinji we're going to be late!" she shouted

"You kids want some breakfast before you leave." Came a voice from the kitchen.

"No thanks mom, we're running short on time as it is." He answered as he slipped on his shoes

"Well have a good day at school you two."

"Thanks mom! Bye!" he said as he ran out the door

"Bye Mrs. Ikari!"

"Bye Asuka." As Yui turned from washing the dishes, she noticed that her husband was still reading the newspaper after she told him that he was going to be late for the committee meeting. "Gendo, are you still reading that newspaper!" she asked

"Of course Yui." Gendo answered

"Don't you know you're going to be late if you don't leave right now?"

"Of course Yui."

Yui eyebrow twitched slightly, "Gendo! You're not even listening to me are you?"

"Of course Yui."

"Men! You're all alike!" she yelled at herself for being stupid enough to marry that man

"Of course Yui." He replied while turning the page.

Asuka and Shinji were running down the busy morning streets as fast as their feet could take them. Shinji had purposefully fallen back behind Asuka just a few feet so that, as she ran, the wind would pick up her dress every now and then and he would take a quick peek at her panties. [Pink, my favorite color.] He grinned to himself.

"Come on Shinji we're almost there! What the... Hey! What are you looking at back there!" she shouted

"Huh? Oh, nothing?" he said blushing brightly, he'd been caught

"Yeah right, get up in front you pervert! You and I are going to have a little talk about our relationship after school!"

"Relationship huh?"

"Oh shut up baka!"

As they made the corner to the Tokyo-3 High School, they ran through the halls to their homeroom class located in room 3-B, trying to make it before the late bell rang. But it was to late, before they were able to make it to the classroom, the bell rang and they were officially late.

"Great just great!" Asuka wheezed as she gasped for air

"Oh man!" Shinji replied, also gasping for air

"I can't believe it! I'm late! On my first day of school too, and it's all your fault Shinji!" smacking him in the back of his head

"Owe! Hey it's not my fault, my alarm clock didn't go off." He said rubbing the back of his head

"You don't have an alarm clock." She said glaring at him

"Oh yeah..." he replied looking innocent

"Well, we might as well get this over with..." and she opened the door to their homeroom class to see everyone turn their heads in unison and gawked at the two latecomers. The sounds of whispering and muffled laughter could be heard as they walked in and started to apologize to the teacher, but were cut off before they could, by a crude comment made by one of their classmates.

"Hey look, the newlyweds are late again! I wonder why?" It was Toji, as usual his smart-ass comments brought upon huge laughter from their classmates. The two of them have been referred to as the 'newlyweds' ever since they were 14 years old back in middle school. Shinji stared at the ground with a defeated look on his face, while Asuka on the other hand was very angry and was about to chew Toji out in front of the entire class until the teacher made a comment of her own.

"Actually, I would like to know why the both of you look very winded this morning as well." And winked at the even more humiliated boy and girl, who were still standing in the entranceway of the classroom door. Again a loud roar of laughter ensued as the two of them took their seats and stewed in their own embarrassment.

"Okay class, my name Ms. Misato Katsuragi, and I'll be your teacher for this year. Now for those of you, who don't know me, let me explain a little something about myself." Misato started out as she walked from behind her desk to the front, all of the boys gazed at her with pubescent lust in their eyes and clung to every word she was saying.

Dressed in a tight black skirt, which was by the way to short for school board regulations, and black halter top in a black mesh shirt, a short yellow jacket which was buttoned at the second button from the bottom to accent her cleavage, wearing diamond earrings and high heels, she was the fantasy dream girl of every adolescent, horny, teenage boy in the entire school.

"The reason I transferred to the high school was because the old teacher retired during the summer and they needed someone else to fill her spot, so they offered me the job, so I took it. It paid more of course..." as Misato continued with her little morning speech, all of the other girls in class looked at her as their personal rival for the attention of their boyfriends. Even though Misato had no interest in any of the boy students in the school, she did find it amusing at the way they reacted to her, she was involved with her long time boyfriend from college, Kaji, but secretly she enjoyed the attention.

"Hey Asuka." She felt a tapping on her left shoulder; she turned to see Rei Ayamani sitting behind her with a big smirk on her face. "So why were you late this morning, hmm?" she asked coyly, obviously hinting that the two of them had done something before school.

"Oh shut it Rei, nothing happened okay." She hissed, and then felt another tap on her right shoulder. Turning around and saw that Hikari was sitting in the next row, one seat back from her.

"Oh come on Asuka you can tell us." She spoke softly as not to be heard from the whole class

"I told you nothing happened."

Rei and Hikari leaned closer together and started gossiping, knowing full well that Asuka would hear them.

"I bet that Shinji and Asuka were making out this morning." Giggled Hikari

"Oh I agree; and I bet that it was at Shinji's house too. You know how Asuka always complains about Shinji not being able to wake up on time for school." Stifling a laugh. By this time Asuka's temperature was getting higher and her clenched fists were starting to shake, but she was bound and determined not to let them get the better of her.

"Really? Well you know they were breathing really hard when they came in this morning, I wonder if what they say about guys are true... You know, about how they have huge erect boners in the morning. It would make sense you know, I mean, if they wake up ready and willing to do it, then..." Hikari was just about to lay out the punch line when Asuka finally exploded and screamed in front of the entire room.

"Damn it! I didn't do anything with Shinji's boner!"

Jaws dropped and silence fell upon the class as all eyes turned on her, and then on Shinji as the stunned group started laughing, pointing, gossiping, and within minutes the rumor mills were running in overdrive as Asuka sank deep into her seat, bright red as burning coal, and felt as if she were only two feet tall.

[Oh my god! That did not just happen! This is a dream, that's right, this is all a dream, this is not happening! I'm asleep in my bed right now and I'm going to wake at any moment now and this nightmare will be over.] She kept thinking to herself, praying that this horrible day would just be over already.

"Oh my god Asuka, you should really learn to control yourself." Said Rei, as she and Hikari couldn't stop their hysterical laughing

[I'm going to kill you guys! I swear it on my life I will!] Asuka vowed herself

"Shinji! You old dog you! You never told us that you and Asuka were doing it, way to go man!" Shouted Toji as he and Kensuke slapped Shinji on the shoulders congratulating him. Shinji on the other hand felt just as tall as Asuka did, [Asuka why in the hell would you say something like that at a time like this! Why the hell would you say something like that ever!] He cursed himself as he sank even lower in his seat than Asuka was.

"Well, I'd have to say that this looks like it's going to be a very interesting first day of school after all." Said Misato and the laughter continued on for another ten full minutes. As the comedy finally subsided, and Misato was able to contain herself, she began going over the schedule of her classes for the rest of the semester. While the students wrote down the information in their notebooks, whispers and laughter could still be heard as they all occasionally looked back at the 'Newlyweds.' Rumors about those two have been flying around for years, and it looked like as if there were going to be even more rumors flying around this year as well.

[Damn it, why did we have to leave Germany? Why couldn't my parents have stayed in Germany, found normal jobs so I can go to a normal school with normal kids instead of moving to Japan? I have never been so humiliated in my entire life. How could this day possibly get any worse?] Asuka said thinking to herself

"Okay class, and now for our first lesson of the day I'm going to need a couple of volunteers. Hmm, who should it be..." Looking straight at the two of them

[No, no she wouldn't!] Shinji thought in fear

[She couldn't possibly be that Cruel!] Asuka said to herself in horror

"Oh, I know... Shinji..." the class erupted in muffle laughs and coughs as he slapped himself in the face and stood up from his seat and made his way to the front of the class.

"And... Oh yeah, Asuka! If you please." Misato smirked to herself

Cursing in German underneath her breath, she could feel the glares and hear snickering of her classmates as she her way to the front of the class and stood next to Shinji.

[I was wrong; this day can get worse!] She cursed mentally

"Now class today's first lesson is about biology." Said Misato and the class erupted in a flurry of uninhibited hilarious, laughter that sounded throughout the entire third floor of the school.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Shinji was standing in a large room underground somewhere, it's a place that he's never been to before, but it seems so completely familiar to him somehow. He was standing on catwalk and Misato Katsuragi was with him, she was dressed in a black dress with a short skirt and a red jacket, and there was someone else with them as well, a blond haired doctor, in a white coat, and not that much older than Misato. The three of them were standing on this catwalk directly across something extremely large, something horrifying. It was purple in color and all that Shinji could see was its head, it had two large white eyes, some sort of protective armor and it seemed to be restrained somehow. Something else that made this scene out of the ordinary was that it was being held in a great vat or storage tank filled with an orange liquid up to its massive neck. He didn't know what this thing is or why he was here, but he didn't like it. He felt nervous, scared, and lonely for some reason.

"So are you going to pilot it?" the blond haired woman asked

"Pilot it? How can you expect me to pilot it? I've never even seen something like this before!" It was him shouting. Shinji could hear his own voice, but it sounded different somehow, younger perhaps.

"Then why are you here!"

Shinji looked up to see his father looking down on him from an observation window, with cold dead eyes.

"Why? Why did you bring me here father!" It was his voice again, filled with pain.

"I sent for you here because I have a need for you..." his father replied flatly, with no signs of care or concern in his voice.

Shinji dropped his head towards the ground, refusing to look up at him, "So... You brought me here because you needed me..." He could feel himself starting to cry as he spoke.

"Correct..."

"I can't pilot this thing!" he screamed, the hurt building up in his voice

"Fine, bring out Rei; we're going to have her pilot Unit-01."

As he said this, two orderlies strolled out a gurney with someone laying on it. It was a young girl with blue hair, and she was wrapped heavily in bandages. Rei! It was Rei, she was a little younger than she was now, maybe fourteen years old, and she was in great amounts on pain.

"REI!" Shinji sat up sharply from his nightmare. He was covered in sweat from head to toe and he was breathing quite heavily. Looking around his surroundings he could make out his room, it was still dark outside. He looked at his new alarm clock that Asuka had bought for him after the "Boner" incident at school. It read 04:45 AM, he still had just over an hour before he had to wake up for school, but he couldn't go back to sleep. He raised his hand and held it over his heart as if it were about to explode. The nightmare he'd just experienced was one of the worst he ever had, not because of the images that flashed in dream, but because of how it felt, emotionally.

It felt so incredibly real, as if he were re-living an actual memory of something that had happened to him in the past. He couldn't block out the images of his father, looking so cold, so distant, so... evil in his eyes, and Rei. She was younger in his dream, like the first day he met her, when the two of them ran into each other on the sidewalk trying to get to school on time. She was a new student that everyone was talking about, and she was extremely pretty, her blue hair and red eyes were something that he had never seen before, oh and he also had a quick peek at her panties when they fell into each other. Rei had fallen backwards with her legs slightly spread open and Shinji had fallen forwards on his chest, just in the perfect position to look up her dress and marvel and her 'womanhood.'

But in his nightmare, she was all bandaged up on her head, face, arms, and torso. As if she had been in a big accident or something, she was in so much pain that even the moment of the gurney on its wheels caused her to scream out. Shinji lay back down on his bed and tried to block out the images of the nightmare out of his mind, but it was impossible. The dream was so amazingly vivid and clear, like it had just happened yesterday. He shuddered at the thought that this could've actually happened in real life, but he knew that it was just a dream, because this never did happen.

Laying in bed, he looked over at the clock once again, 05:15 AM. He had been wide awake for half an hour and he wasn't getting any sleepier, so he decided to go and take a shower instead and wash of the sweat drying on his body. Shinji threw the covers off and walked over to the dresser and picked out his school clothes for the day, and put them down on his bed. As the water rained down on him in the shower, Shinji still couldn't shake the intense feeling of his nightmare, [Damn it, why does it feel so real? It was just a nightmare, nothing else... I must be getting sensitive or girly and stuff like that if I'm going to let a little dream bug me so much.] He thought to himself as he finally turned the water off and toweled himself.

Shinji must have spent more time in the shower that morning than he expected to, because when he walked out of the bathroom, he walked down the hall to make his way to his bedroom when, and he turned down the corner to open his door, who did he smack right into but Asuka herself. Apparently, she still felt that she had to come over to his house and make sure that he was awake on time and was ready to go to school, even though she did buy him an alarm clock, which he admit, he only used about half the time simply because he forgot he even had one in the first place.

As their heads collided with each other, a loud "thud" could be heard throughout the entire house as they both collapsed to the ground on their butts.

"Is everything alright in there?" came the voice of Shinji's mother from the kitchen

"Yes." Shinji winced aloud, rubbing his throbbing forehead.

Asuka doing the same, managed to open her eyes from the initial shock and pain from ramming her head into Shinji's, and noticed that his towel had come completely undone, and that he was now sitting directly in front of her no more than two feet away. Glistening wet, completely naked and with his legs slightly open, she could see "Everything." Her eyes widening to the size of grapefruits, her face was now as red as her hair and giant sweat drops formed on her head as she tried to gain composure.

"Shinji what the hell are you doing!" she screamed

"Huh?" he then felt a little drafty but couldn't explain why, as he looked down to see what Asuka was staring at, he suddenly felt as if he would die right then and there of complete and total humiliation. "Arghhh!" He snapped up of the ground directly to his feet in an instant at the same time grabbing his towel, and what was left of his dignity, and politely made his way around Asuka. His face was burning so hot that his face was practically lighting the entire hallway and you could almost see steam rise from his ears. Asuka, who was now getting up to her own feet, backed away rather quickly away from Shinji's naked, wet form, as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"What was that?" asked Yui

"Huh? Oh... Oh nothing Mrs. Ikari, nothing at all, Hehehehe!" Asuka laughed quite embarrassingly as she made her way to the door and waited for Shinji to get completely, and totally, dressed for school.

"Would you like to have some breakfast before school Asuka?" Yui asked

"Uh, no thank you Mrs. Ikari, I had breakfast earlier this morning, thank you." She politely declined

"Is everything alright?" Yui asked

"Huh, why of course everything is okay. Hahaha! Why do you ask?"

"Well it just seems that you're nervous about something dear."

"Wha... Oh no, no no... Hehe, I uh... just had a little too much sugar in my coffee this morning. Yeah that's it, too much sugar."

"Okay then." Yui happily answered

Meanwhile, Shinji was roasting in his own total and complete humiliation in room. "Oh God please tell me that this didn't happen! Please tell me that I did not run into Asuka outside of the shower and see saw me completely naked! Please God; if you're listening to me please tell me that this is not happening. Not Asuka, this is twice in as many weeks that something embarrassing has happened to me. At my own expense! Oh my God, please don't make her say anything about this at school today or I swear I'll jump out of the window and commit suicide!"

About ten minutes later, Shinji finally made it out of his room. Slowly and timidly, he made his way to the front door, not looking directly into Asuka's eyes, and truth be told she wasn't looking directly at him either. As he put his shoes on, he said goodbye to his mother and father in kitchen and left the front door to school with Asuka.

"Goodbye Shinji."

"Goodbye mother."

"He's such a nice boy... Gendo, what are you doing reading that newspaper again? You have to make it to work!" she shouted at her husband

"Of course Yui." He replied not looking up

"Now I know where Shinji gets his tardiness from." She scowled

"Of course Yui."

As the two walked out of the house in awkward silence, he noticed a bright, shiny, red Toyota Prius X-4 sitting in his driveway.

"Hey whose car is that?" he asked temporarily forgetting his current disgrace.

"Oh that one?" Asuka pointed, trying to find something to distract her mind from thinking about Shinji and this morning. "That's my new car, you like?" she said proudly

"Do I? It's cool, when did you get this Asuka?" he asked as they made their way to Asuka's new car

"My parents got it for me yesterday as an early graduation present."

"Really, that was nice of them."

"Yeah it was; they were going to wait for me to actually graduate, but I guess they figured that it would be better if they gave it to me now, seeing that I've already been accepted to Tokyo-3 University." Asuka stated smugly

"Really, already? Asuka that's great!" Shinji said and hugged her. But suddenly realizing their current situation from only fifteen minutes ago, the genuine show of affection became very uncomfortable and awkward for both. Pulling away from the embrace, Shinji and Asuka turned away from each other and stood in silence. After several minutes of this ill-at-ease stillness, Asuka was the first one to break it by deciding that if they weren't going to start going to school in next couple of minutes, then they were going to be late again, and that was not going to happen twice!

"So Shinji... Uh..." nervousness clearly sounding in her voice, "Why don't we take a drive in my new car to school okay."

"Sure." As Shinji opened the door, he bent down in front of the passenger side seat in order to put his school bag in the back, while Asuka watched him intently, her gaze, slowly making their way downwards to Shinji's rear.

[Asuka what the hell do you think you're doing! This is Shinji we're talking about here, not some super star movie actor or sports athlete. It's Shinji! Your Friend!] Asuka slapped herself mentally for even looking at him like that, and made her way over to the driver's side and hopped in.

Shinji didn't know whether he was more afraid of the possible embarrassment at school if Asuka would say something about what happened this morning, or her driving skills. Running stop signs, and driving way too fast for his comfort, he prayed that all of the safety features on this car were in complete working order. The seat belts, passenger side air bags, anti-lock brakes, crunch zones, side impact panels, everything.

Asuka was completely preoccupied as she was driving to even notice any of the sign as images of Shinji's shining wet, naked, muscle toned body and his long... [Damn it Asuka stop that! You and Shinji are not that way, so stop thinking about it right now!] She cursed herself mentally.

"Red light."

"Huh?"

"Asuka red light! Stop!" Shinji shouted at the top of his lungs

Stomping on the brakes with both feet, the Toyota Prius X-4 came to screeching halt and the four-way intersection, nearly causing an accident behind them.

"Oh man..." Shinji winced as he rubbed his neck; "I think I have whiplash now. Asuka what were you thinking? Didn't you see the red light?"

"What?" Asuka asked, still stunned at what nearly could have happened because of her lack of concentration on the road.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked turning his head to look at her.

"Wha... Nothing!" she shrilled

Shinji of course didn't buy it, in fact his eyebrow twitched at the answer she gave him. "Nothing huh?" He stated narrowing his eyes slightly

"Yeah that's right nothing! That's exactly what I said!" she hissed at him

"Well you certainly didn't have your mind on the road that's for sure... Are you positive you weren't thinking about anything?"

"Damn it Shinji, I wasn't thinking about anyone okay, can we drop it now?" Asuka huffed

"Anyone? I didn't ask if you were thinking about 'anyone.' I asked if you were thinking about 'anything.' Hmm, so that just proves that you were thinking about something, or should I say someone." Shinji grinned menacingly

"What? No, no it's not like that at all..." she was sweating now.

"Not like what Asuka? I mean after all if it was me..." Shinji didn't even have time finish his sentence. What he was going to say was that 'if it was me, I wouldn't care telling other people what he was thinking about.'

"Damn it Shinji, we're not like that okay and I wasn't thinking about you!"

"What?" Shinji asked a little taken back by her outburst.

Noticing her slip up, she clasped her hands around her mouth as if to stop herself from saying anything else, and slowly lowered them and sighed. What was going on with her anyway, she's been losing all of her battles over the past couple of weeks and she didn't know why? "Look Shinji, can we just drop it please? I don't want to talk about it okay." She asked in a rather soft, monotone voice

Shinji had never heard her talk in that kind of tone before, unless she was really serious about something, so he did as she requested and asked no more question on the subject.

"Uh, okay Asuka. I'll stop."

"Thank you Shinji."

As soon as the light at the intersection turned green, Shinji was once again in fear of life as Asuka stepped on the gas and bolted down the street at speeds that would make racecar driver cringe.


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Shinji was sitting at some controls, inside of a cockpit of some sort. It was filled with a liquid that felt like water but smelled like blood and he was looking at an image in front of him. The image on the screen shown a giant creature with black skin, long arms, and two weird looking white skulls with a long nose and a giant red jewel in the middle of its chest; but he was staring at it at almost eye level, then he realized, he wasn't in the cockpit of a jet, it was something else. Then a voice came over the sound system.

"Okay Shinji, just concentrate on walking right now."

He couldn't place who the voice was, but it feminine. It was woman's voice, but who's was it, for some reason it sounded familiar.

"Right." Shinji answered, again he sounded younger. As he gripped the controls all of a sudden, what it was that he was inside of started to move. He was walking. The monster! The giant purple monster he saw before, Shinji was inside that thing, piloting it. The balance of this giant creature was unsteady and he toppled over and fell to the ground. Trying to get to his feet, the monster attacked Shinji; it grabbed his head with its left, lifting it into the air and immediately grasped Shinji's left arm with its right and clamped down on it hard, trying to break it in half. Shinji screamed out in pain as he felt it snap in two, and then suddenly it felt as if he was being stabbed in his right eye. Something was coming out of the monster's left hand and was attempting to pierce through Shinji's right eye. But it wasn't his eye it was trying to pierce, it was the creature he was piloting, Shinji could feel its pain as if it was his own. Suddenly he was flying backwards and collided with giant wall the size of a building and blood sprayed out of both punctures in the pruple creature's head.

Suddenly, Shinji lost control of the purple creature he was piloting and it went berserk. His creature launched itself at the monster that injured and immediately started punching away with its good arm. The monster defended itself and kicked Shinji away, crashing into some buildings. But then Shinji's creature got to its feet and held out its left arm, with a brilliant purple light engulfing the damaged arm, it suddenly healed and the creature attacked the ugly monster again. But this time running into a strange orange force field; the force field didn't hold for long though as Shinji's creature broke through it and continued its assault. The other monster sensing its eventual defeat, wrapped itself around Shinji and self destructed in a radiant, bright, green explosion in the shape of a cross.

"Arghhh!" Shinji screamed as he shot up from his bed. His hands held onto his right eye where the monster in his nightmare had punctured it straight through his skull. "Oh man, why does it still hurt so much, it was just a dream, and it wasn't real. So why does it still hurt?" He asked himself as his trembling hands his held pressure to his eye. After a few moments, the pain subsided, and it was gone.

Breathing heavily and covered in sweat, Shinji looked at his left arm, where he could have sworn it was broken. But it wasn't, however, Shinji could feel the pain still lingering deep in his muscles as if his arm had been damaged; and then, it too was gone. [Strange, what the hell is happening to me? Why do these nightmares seem so real?] He thought to himself, looking over at the clock it read 06:58 AM. It didn't matter what time it was though, today was a Saturday and he had the day off from school.

Shinji was supposed to be going over to Toji's house today and later on meet up with Kensuke, Asuka, Rei and Hikari and head off to the mall. Everybody wanted to see that new Greek war movie that everyone was talking about, it looked pretty good and right now Shinji was looking forward to forgetting his dreams. He couldn't figure them out, even though he knew they were just dreams, he just couldn't shake the feeling that they were actually something much more than that. Something more important, but no matter how much he thought about them, nothing made sense. Eventually, Shinji decided to take a shower and try to forget about the whole thing.

After Shinji was finished with his shower, he stepped out of the bathroom cautiously. Just in case for some reason Asuka was here; even though there would be no reason for her to be, he wasn't taking any chances. The last time he got out of the shower and went to his room, he ran right into Asuka and she had seen him naked. He shivered at the thought of it. Asuka wasn't around, so Shinji went directly to his room and changed clothes.

That afternoon everyone met at Toji's house, Shinji and Kensuke were playing video games while Toji let Asuka, Rei and Hikari in. Since Asuka was the only one with a car, she would have to be the one to drive the whole gang there. Everyone was dressed casually, Toji was in jeans and a black shirt, Kensuke was dressed in some khakis and green shirt with a picture of a military helicopter on it, and Shinji was dressed in some black jeans, a white shirt and a brown jacket. Both Rei and Hikari were wearing dresses, Rei had on a blue sundress and Hikari had on a yellow one. Asuka on the other hand was wearing tight blue jean shorts and a red t- shirt.

"Hey Shinji check out their legs." Kensuke whispered as the three girls walked in.

However when Shinji turned to look, he didn't see all three of the girls walking. Instead he had a sudden image flash in front of his eyes of Rei. She was sitting in a cockpit similar to the ones he had in his dreams, and she was screaming in pain. Her veins were bulging greatly from underneath her skin. She was screaming louder and louder as her veins grew in size and tears were streaming from her eyes.

"Shinji?" came a voice

Suddenly he was snapped back into reality and found himself face to face with Rei, standing there in her blue dress.

"Huh? Wha..." he stammered as he tried to understand what just happened

"Is something wrong?" she asked

"Uh, no I don't think so... Why?"

"Well you seemed to be staring at me pretty hard just then. See something you like?" she grinned

"Uh, well, no it's not like that Rei. It's just that I thought I saw something just now." He explained, embarrassingly of course.

"On me?"

"Well sort of..." he trailed off

"Hmm, okay then. Keep your secrets." Rei smiled and turned back to the others.

Abruptly, there came an elbow strike in Shinji's left arm. "Owe."

"Hey Shinji, I didn't know you had a hard on for Rei like that? I got to tell you man, you've got some balls to be staring at her legs right in front of her like that. You should at least try to play it off you know. I mean, can you be more obvious?" said Kensuke

"What? No it wasn't like that. I wasn't looking at her legs."

"Oh I see. You were staring at something else then huh? Bold man, bold." Kensuke smirked

"What no... I thought I saw..." Shinji's voice trailing off again

"Saw what man?"

"I thought... I thought I saw her crying..." only telling half the truth

"Crying?" Kensuke took a quick look back and saw that Rei wasn't in the least bit sad at all. "Shinji she's not crying man, she's laughing in case you haven't noticed. You're just lucky that the other three didn't notice anything, especially Toji; otherwise he'll be all over you man."

"Yeah I know. Good thing Rei decided to walk over and keep it quiet."

"Yeah really."

However, what neither of the two realized was that Asuka did notice Shinji's stares towards Rei. In fact, not only did she notice, but also she felt something inside of her that she didn't quite expect, and she didn't know what that feeling was either. Whatever it was, she didn't like it at all.

It was hard for Asuka to drive five people, including herself, to the mall in one car. Especially with her driving skills, everyone was just happy to make it there alive. They spent the first couple of hours going from one store to another, the girls went to the clothes department and the guys went to the video game store. While Toji and Kensuke were playing a demo of the newest military game, Shinji was on the other side looking as some of the latest anime fighting games, when he noticed a tall man with dark glasses and a long, black, trench coat on the other side of the store staring at him. Shinji felt a chill crawl down his spine as he looked at this man.

_"You may have killed my brothers, but you won't save your people this time, Human!"_

A strange voice echoed in his mind, and as soon as a small group of teenagers passed in front of him, he disappeared.

"What the hell?" he said to himself. His eyes darting from one end of the store to another, and finding nothing; he walked up to the counter and asked the clerk if he saw someone in the store a minute ago with dark glasses and a long, black trench coat. After the clerk told him no, Shinji turned around and ran out of the store and looked around at the crowds of people to see if he could spot this strange man. He could not. "Okay this is not good, what is going on with me? Am I going insane or something?"

"I don't know man, maybe you are!"

Shinji turned to see Toji and Kensuke walking up behind him.

"What's going on man, you just ran out of the store." Asked Kensuke

"Uh, yeah. I thought I saw someone." Said Shinji

"Oh yeah who?" Toji inquired

"Uh... I'm not sure exactly, he was wearing a long black coat and some really dark sunglasses."

"Why would you want to be looking for someone like that? Sounds a little weird to me." Toji replied mockingly

"Yeah well... Uh, never mind; forget it. Maybe I was just hearing things... I guess..." Shinji sighed

"Yeah well, it was probably for the best anyway, the movie starts in about 20 minutes. Let's go find the girls and get our tickets before the lines get to long." Declare Toji

"Sure no problem." Shinji replied smiling, but on the inside, he was still a little shaken about what he had seen. [There's no way that guy could've ran out of the store like that with no one seeing where he went, and was he actually talking to me? He was on the other side of the store. He couldn't have been trying to talk to me, besides the fact that I never saw his lips move; I wouldn't have been able to hear him anyway. What the hell is happening with me?]

"Hey Shinji, guys, over here!" It was Hikari; they were already in line and buying the tickets for the movie. As the three guys went to join the girls, Hikari noticed that Shinji wasn't all there; he was preoccupied with something. "Hey Shinji, what's the matter?"

"Oh nothing, I just thought I saw something. My mind must have been playing tricks on me, or something. I'm okay though, really." Shinji answered rather unconvincingly

"Hmm, you know Shinji you've been acting kinda weird all day. Are you sure you're all right?" She asked again

"Yeah Hikari I'm fine, let's go see the movie okay." Shinji replied smiling, but as he answered he saw someone standing behind everyone else. As he looked closer, he noticed that this kid was wearing the same kind of school uniform he used to have when he was fourteen back in Tokyo-3 middle school. Upon further inspection, he could finally make out the boy's face... It was him! The boy looked exactly like Shinji when he was younger! But how was that possible? But then, an elderly couple walked in front of the boy after buying their movie tickets and the boy disappeared. Just like the guy at the video game store did. His eyes became wide, small droplets of sweat started to form on his forehead and he was beginning to breathe heavily. All of a sudden, a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind and spun him around.

"Shinji what's wrong?" asked a very concerned Asuka

Wiping his mouth with his hand he looked around again to see if he can spot the boy that looked like him. But he saw nothing. "Um, you know Asuka... I, uh don't really feel too good. I think I'm going to go home now and rest or something."

"What? But the movie is about to start in like 5 minutes. We even got you your ticket already!" she shouted

"I'm sorry Asuka."

"Don't apologize, something's up with you I can tell. It looks like you're about to freak out or something."

[Maybe I am] he told himself. "I'm sorry Asuka really I am, but I got to go." And he turned around and headed for the nearest bus stop without even looking back at everyone.

"Well if you want to go home, fine then! It's not going to ruin my fun!" she shouted at him as he was walking away hoping to provoke a response. But he just kept on walking. [Damn it Shinji, why won't you tell me what's wrong with you?] "Dummkopf." She said under her breath.

The ride on the way home was uneventful, Shinji kept his eyes open for either the guy in black or the younger version of himself, but neither one of them showed up. Which, he guessed, was a good thing. He figured that if he weren't hallucinating any more, then maybe it would just all go away. The events of the day had really disturbed him and he didn't know what to make of it, all he knew was that he was tired, mentally, and he just wanted to sleep it off and hopefully he would feel better when he woke up.

He changed into a pair of old short and a plain white t-shirt and laid down on his bed, on top of his covers. His blinds were shut and the lights were off, reaching over to his nightstand, he pulled the small drawer out and grabbed his SDAT-5 out. It was an mp3 player capable of holding up to 10GB of memory, and filled with classical music. For some reason, classical music always helped him to sleep when he was stressed; and today was definitely a stressful day. As sleep started to take over his body, his eyelids grew heavy and slowly closed, and within minutes he was dreaming.

Shinji was once again inside the cockpit of the giant purple creature, except now it looked as if he were in some sort of underground hangar. But he wasn't alone; standing next to him was another creature almost exactly like his, except it was red, not purple.

"Evangelions launch!" came Misato Katsuragi's voice over the comm. system.

Suddenly there was a great amount of force being exerted on his body as his 'Evangelion' was launched to the surface on some sort of platform, and just as quickly as it started, the ride to the surface came to an abrupt stop. Shinji and the red Evangelion retrieved some weapons from a couple of building sized armory lockers on each side of them. The red Evangelion grabbed a giant spear and Shinji picked up a colossal sizes machine gun. They were both lifted onto two separate VTOL's, with the name NERV painted on the sides; the two Evangelions were dropped from the air after several minutes and landed at the beach near Tokyo-3.

"Okay I'll handle this Angel, cover my back Shinji." Came Asuka's voice from the Red Evangelion

"Cover you?" he questioned

"Yeah ladies first." She retorted smugly

"Damn it, don't talk to me like that you dumb rookie!" Shinji shouted back and lifted his giant machine gun in his Eva's hands, targeting the Angel ahead of him and squeezed the trigger. As a hail of bullets rained down upon his target, Asuka and her red Eva stampeded down the beach and into the water. Leaping into the air, Asuka swung her giant spear and sliced the Angel right down the middle into two halves.

'Ding-Dong.' The doorbell sounded. Yui walked over to the front door, opened it and found Asuka standing there.

"Oh good evening Asuka, please come in." Said Yui smiling

"Thank you Mrs. Ikari, is Shinji here?" she asked

"Oh yes he is, but he's been asleep all afternoon."

"Oh, is it okay if I go see him?"

"Of course it is Asuka. Besides it's about time he wakes up now, otherwise he'll wake up in the middle of the night and be wide awake."

"Thank you." Asuka smiled and made her way to Shinji's room. She knocked on the door lightly just to make sure that he was awake or not. When no answer came, she slid the door open slowly and saw Shinji on top of his covers, still dressed in the same clothes he was wearing earlier that day. His SDAT- 5 was knocked on the floor and was still playing music through the earphones. Asuka picked it up and turned it off while placing it back on his nightstand. As she turned to look at Shinji, she could see that he was having a very intense dream. He was stirring around in his sleep and perspiring heavily.

"Shinji... Shinji wake up." Asuka said while shaking his shoulders.

"Asuka!" He jolted into a sitting position, frightening Asuka so much that she nearly knocked over his nightstand.

"What's wrong with you? I'm right here you don't have to scream!" she snapped

"I, I, I just..." his voice sounded shaky

"Shinji what's wrong with you? You've been acting really weird today you know that. I mean you just took off before the movie without even a word as to why." She huffed

"I..." Shinji sighed, "I know Asuka... It's just... It's hard to explain okay."

"No not okay Shinji. Now you've been acting really strange lately and I want to know why." Narrowing her eyes at him

Shinji's breathing had slowed and he seemed to be calming down. Sitting next to him on his bed, and after several minutes of contemplation, Shinji started to tell her everything that's been happening to him. He told her about the nightmares, the strange hallucinations, the feelings of familiarity that these dreams seem to have; Asuka sat there listening to her friend.


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

It has been several weeks since Shinji confessed to Asuka about the nightmares and hallucinations that he'd been having. Amazingly enough, Asuka actually seemed sympathetic and told him that there was nothing to worry about because they were only just bad dreams, and dreams can't hurt you.

"You shouldn't let your imagination run away with you like that." She told him, "You could end up hurting someone, even yourself if you're not careful."

Her statements surprised him, she seemed as if she was actually worried about him and didn't make fun of him for being scared about his dreams. Asuka was the only person he told this about, but he had suspicions that perhaps his mother might know as well. She had asked him earlier that morning before he and Asuka left for school if he was doing all right.

"Shinji are you doing okay?" Yui asked

"Yes mother." He smiled at her

"Are you sure Shinji? No bad dreams or anything?" looking at him quizzically

Shinji froze for a couple of seconds at her question. "No, no bad dreams... Honest."

His mother stared at him, and then smiled at her son. "Well, okay then Shinji. But remember, if you are having some problems you know you can always talk to me about it right?"

"Of course I do... I have to go now mother, I'm going to be late." He said while waving goodbye

"Shinji..." came a voice from the front of the classroom.

But Shinji didn't answer. [Hmm, I guess she must have heard me this morning when I woke up screaming... This was a really bad one. I swear I can feel everything happening in my dreams like I'm really there. I don't understand it at all, maybe I should think about going to see a doctor or something. Perhaps I can get some medication that'll help me stop having these damn things.] Shinji was thinking to himself, completely ignoring the lessons being taught by Misato.

"Mr. Ikari..."

Shinji again didn't answer; instead he was still gazing at his laptop computer screen thinking to himself, completely oblivious to outside world beyond his own thoughts.

"Mr. Ikari!" Misato shouted

That got his attention as he jumped back in his seat and was snapped into reality, the students in the class were laughing at his sudden embarrassment by being put in the spot light once again.

"Yes Misato!" He blurted out, followed by gasps from the class as they turned and stared at him.

Misato on the other hand blinked widely at his forwardness, "So it's 'Misato' now is it 'Shinji'?" She said smirking

"I-I-I... I mean, Ms. Katsuragi... S-Sorry..." he stuttered while sinking into his seat, beads of sweat forming almost instantly on his forehead.

"Well that's better." Misato smiled back, "Well since it's obvious that you weren't paying attention, would somebody else like to answer the question then?" She asked with a couple of students raising their hands.

Shinji of course didn't even look up when Kensuke and Toji leaned over his shoulders from behind him and patted him on the back for his boldness for calling the hottest teacher in the school be her first name in front of the whole class.

"Shinji, buddy, I got to give you props man. You got some seriously big balls." Toji laughed in a muffled tone, trying not to attract any attention to himself.

"Yeah man, you've been getting really fearless the last couple of weeks. Good job man, keep this up and I'll actually start looking up to you." Kensuke said stifling his own laughter.

"Hey Kensuke what do you mean man?" Toji asked quietly

"Remember a little while ago when Shinji freaked out over something and went home from the movie theater?"

"Yeah."

Shinji could see exactly where Kensuke was leading with his story and was trying his best to stay calm and not listen in on the conversation.

"Well, before we left to the mall man, I pointed out that the girls had some pretty sexy looking legs, and Shinji here turned around and started staring at Rei." Kensuke said

"So? She does have some sexy looking legs you know," said Toji

"So... So Rei caught him looking at her, and he didn't even try to play it off or anything, he was looking right at her, no fear at all man. He just kept staring at her even though she was looking back." He grinned

"Really, what did Rei do? Was she pissed?"

"No man, she actually walked over and confronted him about it. She even smiled at him when she walked back towards you guys, and the things is Shinji wasn't even staring at her legs. He told me he was looking at 'something else' if you catch my drift. Truth be told, I think Rei actually liked it."

"Whoa. You mean she wasn't mad at all?" Toji asked remembering to keep his voice down, while Shinji was getting redder and redder; that was not the reason that he was looking at her, he told Kensuke what the reason was, but obviously Kensuke is choosing to keep that part of the story out at his own expense.

"Nope, she just smiled at him and walked back." Said Kensuke

"Damn Shinji," Toji patted Shinji on his back again, "So how were they man? Were they big and voluptuous? Were they succulent?" Toji smiled goofily and muffing his amusement under his breath.

Unable to control his temper any longer, Shinji snapped. He bolted out of his seat and grabbed Kensuke by the collar.

"God Damn it Kensuke I told you I wasn't looking at Rei's breasts! I was looking at..." Shinji suddenly froze in mid-sentence. His face changed from anger to that of abject terror. The pupils in his eyes shrank to the size of a pinhead, his skin turned to a light shade of blue, and he could actually feel ice forming all over him as the very last shred of dignity he had left his body.

Needless to say the class was left in a state of shock and awe, mouths open, eyes fixated on the frozen young man, roaring with laughter and all wondering what the blue haired girl would do next. Asuka couldn't believe what she just heard, her eyes back and forth between Shinji, who was still standing frozen in the middle of the class with Kensuke trying to free his collar from his death-like grip, and Rei. Rei had her arms crossed over her chest and her head between her knees resting in one of her hands trembling, shaking her head back and forth.

Both Hikari and Asuka slapped their foreheads and said almost simultaneously, "Idiots, they really are the three stooges..."

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God..." Rei kept whispering to herself over and over again.

Asuka couldn't help but grin at this scene with Rei, [Well, at least now you know how I felt...] Looking back, Kensuke had finally freed himself from Shinji's clutches.

"Well now, doesn't this scene look rather familiar." The whole class erupted with uncontrolled laughter once again. "Now Mr. Ikari, would you mind sitting down and stop interrupting my class?" Misato stated with a very serious look on her face.

Shinji didn't even bother answering as he sunk deeply into his seat, his face still a deep shade of blue, as if he had stopped breathing.

Turning back to the black board and covering her mouth very quickly to muffle her own laughter, she went back to teaching the lesson as best as she could before she was interrupted.

Burying his face in his biceps and folding his arms over his head grasping the back of his skull, attempting to hide from the rest of the class and his absolute shame, he remained that way the rest of the class period until the lunch bell rang.

Lunch wasn't any better, if anything it was worse. As he walked through the line to get his tray and food, he could hear the gossiping and rumors flying around about him and Rei. There were some other rumors going around that Asuka and Shinji broke up and now he was doing it with Rei, and others still that he was doing them both at the same time and so on.

[I'm never going to live any of this down...] Shinji sighed to himself.

As he made his way across the cafeteria, he could feel eyes from most of the students following him. He chose to ignore it and sat down at the table Toji and Kensuke were sitting at. Sitting down silently, he began to eat his lunch when Toji took it upon himself to break Shinji's silence.

"So Shinji, what's up man? Hahahaha!" he bellowed

Shinji simply groaned in annoyance.

"Hey man, what was up with you in class anyway? First you call Ms. Katsuragi by her first name and then you burst out in class about Rei's breasts. That was cool man." Kensuke chuckled

"Yeah from your point of view, if you had been me you wouldn't think so." Shinji snapped

"So you can talk after all." Toji said

"I'm not talking to you..."

"Huh, and why not?" Toji inquired

"Because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have snapped earlier in class and I never would've embarrassed myself like that." Shinji stated

"Hey man you can't blame me. You're the one that said, what you said, about Rei, not me. Which brings up and interesting question, do you like her?" Toji asked

Shinji nearly choked on a mouthful of rice when he heard him ask that, "What? What are you talking about?"

"Rei man, do you like her or what?" Kensuke also asked

"Look, me and Rei are not like that okay. We're friends, and that's all." Shinji tried to explain to them.

"Uh-Huh, so then you and Asuka are still together then?" said Kensuke

"What the... Asuka and I are not a couple. We're..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah you're just friends with her too huh?" said Toji

"Yeah that's right." Shinji snapped

"Shinji man, that way of thinking is not healthy, I mean you got to choose man. You just can't keep saying to yourself that you're just friends with them you know. You have pick one of them." Said Kensuke

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shinji demanded to know

"Shinji it's clearly obvious that you like one of them, so choose already and go for it. It's not right for you to keep stringing them on like that." Toji smirked

"Damn it, I told you guys already, we're just friends!" He shouted

"Yeah, yeah, look keep your voice down unless you want to attract more attention to yourself dude." Kensuke told him

Shinji went back to his lunch in front and mumbled something under his voice that wasn't very flattering to either one of his two friends sitting with him. Eating his meal, Shinji noticed someone sit down directly in front of him at the table, as he looked up he was shocked to see that it was in fact the same boy who he spotted at the movie theater a few weeks ago. Dressed in the same middle school type clothes, he had brown hair and blue eyes, smiling at him. The boy looked exactly like Shinji when he was in middle school.

"Hello Shinji." Said the boy, his voice sounded strange, as if he wasn't really there at all, almost ethereal. What was more stunning was that the boy didn't even move his lips as he spoke.

In fact Shinji was to stunned to even notice the group of girls walking to the same table that he, Toji and Kensuke were sitting at when he jumped out of his seat. Colliding right into the group of girls, screams were heard throughout the cafeteria as food, trays and bodies flew in the air and crashed onto the floor. The entire student body in the cafeteria turned to see what all of the commotion was about and focused their attention on the messy group of bodies on the floor.

Shinji had his eyes shut and winced in pain as he his forehead in one of his hands and kept the other one placed firmly on the floor beneath him. Only except the floor wasn't firm at all, in fact it felt soft and round. Cracking his eyes open to see what it was that he in fact was had his hands on, the first thing he saw wasn't the floor or a pile of food. It was Rei's face; she too was grimacing in pain as she held both her hands to her head. But then as she began to open her eyes to meet Shinji's, they grew to the size of balloons and she screamed at him at the top of her lungs.

"Shinji what the hell are you doing? Let go of me you pervert!"

"Huh?" As Shinji looked down to see what he had his hands on, it wasn't a piece of fruit or a melon that his palms were grasping. At least not in a literal sense, his right hand was firmly clutched onto Rei's left breast. "Arghhh! S-Sorry I didn't mean to..." Shinji stammered as he jumped off of Rei as fast as humanly possible, however, before he could finish his apology, his face was met by the furious right hand belonging to Rei. A loud "SMACK" could be heard throughout the entire lunchroom as Rei, Asuka and Hikari finally made it to their feet.

"Pervert!" Rei shouted, as Shinji's friends stood behind him with absolute awe on their faces

"I'm sorry Rei I didn't mean to do that, I swear..." He apologized loudly, and a mixture of ferocious laughter, applause and cheers were being sounded as Shinji basically turned tail and ran out of the school cafeteria and out into the halls.

[Damn it this is great, not only do I not have any dignity left, I am officially the biggest laughing stock of the whole school. To top things off, everyone thinks that I'm a pervert too. Damn it this is not fair! What the hell did I ever do to deserve this kind of punishment? Does God hate me, or something? It's not right!] Shinji mentally cursed himself.

Later that evening, Shinji remained quiet and stayed in his room. He wasn't hungry and decided not to eat dinner with his mother and father, instead he laid in his bed the entire afternoon and listened to the soothing sounds of Mozart and Beethoven on his SDAT-5 while his parents were in the living room watching a late night movie on TV.

"You know Gendo, I'm worried about Shinji." Yui voiced her concern

"Oh? Why is that?" Gendo questioned back

"Haven't you noticed how strange Shinji has been acting lately?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it, he has been looking stressed out and tired recently." He stated

"It's more than that, I think he's been having nightmares."

"Nightmares? Of what?" he said as he turned his head towards his wife

"I don't know, I asked him about it earlier this morning before he left for school but he said he was fine."

Just then, the phone in the kitchen rang and Yui got up slowly to answer it.

"Hello... Oh hi, it's been a while... Mm-hmm... Oh I see, so that's what happened... Is she all right? Well that's good... Oh, oh my, that must've been embarrassing, no wonder Shinji has been acting strange today... Okay... Yes I'll give him the message... Thanks, Goodnight... Bye-bye." Yui hung up the receiver and walked to Shinji's room and opened the door part way.

"Shinji..." Yui said

Shinji paused his SDAT-5 and removed one of the earphones to listen to his mother. "Yes." He said dryly

"Shinji, Rei wants you to know that she was sorry about what happened today. She overreacted and says that she's sorry about the way she slapped you." She spoke softly

Shinji sighed, "So you know what happened then?"

"Yes I do. I know it was embarrassing but you can't change the past... It happened. You just have to learn to get over it now..."

"I know... Goodnight mother." Shinji responded

"Goodnight Shinji." And she closed the door behind her.

Walking back to the couch to sit next to her husband, Gendo looked up and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"So was that Rei?" he asked

"No, it was her mother." She answered smiling

"Oh, so how is Lilith doing these days? I haven't seen her in a couple of months now."

"Lilith is fine, she wanted to lets us know what happened today in case we haven't heard already."

"So what did happen?" he asked

"Well apparently Shinji and Rei had a... Well let's just say that they had an awkward 'run-in' with each other at lunch."

"Run-in?" Gendo's eyebrow arched

"Yeah, why don't we just leave it that for now. It was pretty embarrassing." She said

"I see, okay I'll leave it alone. Besides, they must be pretty embarrassed enough." He smirked, letting his imagination go as the thought of what a "run-in" could possibly mean.

"Thanks dear." She looked up into his eyes, and kissed her husband on the lips.


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Needless to say that Shinji didn't go to school over the next couple of days. He feigned being sick to get of going, a little kid's trick, but his mother understood and went along with it. After three days though she insisted that he went back, so he left early that morning before Asuka came by to pick him up. He decided that he wanted to walk, so he could think things over. His nightmares were getting worse, but now he kind of expected to have them when he went to bed. At least now he wasn't waking up screaming in the middle of the night, he couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing; besides, how could someone get used to having bad dreams like these anyway?

The last one he had was a strange one indeed; as if all the other ones weren't strange enough, this one was really weird. He was sitting inside of the cockpit of his 'Evangelion' again, but as he looked around there was nothing but destruction everywhere. He was in the center of some sort of Geo Front, and as he looked ahead, he could see the remains of a giant red Evangelion, Asuka was dead. The next thing he knew, he went insane; he couldn't take it anymore and he just went absolutely insane. Massive glowing wings appeared on the back of his Eva in the shape of a cross; his hands were impaled through the palms by enormous sized spears.

Nine white creatures with no eyes, wickedly evil looking mouths, and giant wings flew to him and took positions around him. Strange looking symbols appeared around him in the sky and resonated with immense power. A colossal, red, double pronged spear suddenly materialized in front of him near his chest, and what was even stranger is that, Rei emerged out of the clouds. She was as white as a ghost and naked; she held her hands out to him and smiled ever so gently.

The giant, double pronged spear penetrated his body, and he became enveloped his entire Evangelion in the shape of a cross, eyes started tp form over the entire cross and something that looked like roots sprouted from the bottom of the cross. Rei was glowing with an almost heavenly glow as she gingerly took Shinji into her body, and he was now dreaming within a dream.

He was sitting on a train, speaking with Asuka, Rei and Misato Katsuragi. His entire life flashed before his eyes, all the years of pain and loneliness came flooding back to him. The death of his mother, the abandonment by his father, the pain he caused those around him, everything came back to him. But not just his, Asuka's tormented past as well, along with Misato's and Rei's. None of it made any sense to him, but he was compelled to go on, to keep living, no matter how much pain it caused him. Pain and loneliness is a part of life. But love and togetherness is a part of life as well. Despite the fact that he hated the life he's lived, he didn't want to become one with all of humanity in a single great consciousness. Because that is not life, it is merely existence, with no emotions and no value for one's own self.

And then flashes of his regular life, that he knows of now, flickered before him. It was the first day he ran into Rei Ayanami, literally. He and Asuka were running to school when Rei came running around the corner, where she and Shinji collided head on with each other. He got the fortunate treat of having a quick peek at her panties. Rei apologized for running into him and took off ahead for school. When he and Asuka arrived, he told Toji and Kensuke what had happened and what he saw, Misato entered the class to introduce a new student, which as it turned out, happened to be Rei. Then all hell broke loose as Rei shouted at Shinji for looking at her panties, Asuka yelling at Rei for shouting at him and Rei yelling back at her for taking his side and so on. That was an interesting day at school from what he remembered.

Suddenly, in his dream state, he was sitting in a chair, in what looked like an empty room. He wanted to live; he wanted to accept life and not death. He wanted to love himself and love others. The scene around him shattered like glass and his family and all of his friends were suddenly standing around him in a circle. They applauding him for his decision and congratulating him genuinely. "Thank you." He smiled greatly. And the next moment, he woke up. Laying in a cold sweat he slowly sat up in bed and wiped his forehead. "There's something different about that one, but... I don't know what it is." He spoke to himself. "I wish I can understand these damn things and make them stop... I don't like them."

He was thinking back that dream that morning as he walked down the street to his school when he spotted Rei making her way around the corner, and she spotted him as well.

"Oh... Uh, h-hi Rei." Shinji stuttered, fidgeting with his fingers.

"Good M-morning, Shinji..." casting her eyes away, the both of the young adults, nervous to be around the other

"Shinji I..." "Rei I..." They both blurted out at once

"Oh I'm sorry, go ahead Shinji." Said Rei

"Well, uh... I just wanted to say that, uh... I'm sorry about the other day in the cafeteria." Shinji Blushed

"Oh, no, no, really I should be the one to apologize. I had no reason to act that way towards you, it was an accident." Rei apologized

"No really, it was completely my fault, I should've been more careful and looked where I was going." Shinji apologized, rubbing the back of his head.

"Um... Shinji?" Rei was starting to blush

"Yes."

"Do you think I'm... Pretty?" she asked hesitantly

A little taken back by the question, he answered honestly. "Of course I do Rei, you're one of the prettiest girls in school."

"Really?" She giggled

"Yeah, I wouldn't lie about that." Shinji said with a small amount of confusion in his voice.

"Do you 'like' me?" Her eyes sparkled

"I've always liked you Rei." He said matter of factly.

[Wow! He's always liked me! I can't believe it!] She thought to herself. "When you, uh... 'Grabbed' me... Was it on purpose or was it really an accident?" She asked quite nervously, scraping the heel of her shoe on the ground.

"OH Rei I..." Shinji gulped, he hesitated because even though it was an accident, he did rather enjoy the feeling of "holding" her in his hands.

"I was just wondering because well... What Kensuke said during class and cause of the way you looked at me at Toji's house that one time... Uh... Well..." Rei's voice trailed off, as she tried to figure what to say next. "It's just that, I mean..." She sighed as she reached down inside herself and asked the question that has been on her mind for the past several days. "Shinji have you ever thought about 'Us'?"

Shinji gulped hard and was obviously blushing a bright shade of pink in his cheeks, [Wow! I never knew that Rei thought of me that way before! This is awesome! I mean I always thought she was hot, but Wow!] He hollered to himself "Well, Rei I uh..." his voice trailed off for a few seconds. "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of it before, I mean we are friends you know and..." Mentally slapping himself as those last few words came out of his mouth.

"Oh..." Rei sighed, casting her eyes downward, "So you think of us as just friends then?"

"What no, no, that's not what I meant at all." He could see the hurt in her face as she asked the question. "I dream about you all the time!" He blurted out.

"Really?" Rei's eyes lighted up with hopeful possibilities. "What kind of dreams?" she smirked

Shinji could've kicked himself in the ass for saying that, [Great! Now she's going to think I'm a pervert again!] He cursed himself, "Well..." he coughed "You know, guy dreams I guess." He said while still rubbing the back of his head; as he gazed back up from the ground and looked at Rei, he could see a mischievous grin on her face.

"Are they, erotic?" Rei suggested in a sultry voice

"AHH, AH, AH, I Uh! That is to say! Well I Uhh, uhhh!" Shinji coughed and stuttered violently. The reaction he got from Rei was completely unexpected; she merely looked at him and smiled serenely.

"That's okay Shinji. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She reassured him.

Shinji let out a great big breath of fresh air; he was relieved that he didn't have to explain in detail just exactly what kind of dreams he had of her.

"So..." said Rei, scraping the heel of her shoe on the ground again

"So..." said Shinji, as they were both temporarily at a loss for words. Then Shinji finally got up the courage to ask her the question that they both knew was coming. "Uh, Rei, would you like to, g-go out with me?" he stuttered slightly as little dew drops of perspiration formed on his forehead.

Rei's face glowed as she looked into Shinji's eyes and said the one word he was praying for. "Yes," and she hugged him greatly. Usually Shinji would be embarrassed at this show of affection from girls other than Asuka, but this time he wasn't, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her back.

"We'll probably be late for school if we don't leave right now." Shinji pointed out

"Yeah you're right, we should go." Said Rei and they walked off, hand in hand to school.

As they entered the school, they saw that they still had some time left before class officially started; walking into classroom 3-B, Toji, Kensuke and Hikari were already there. Their eyes went wide as they turned their heads simultaneously from their conversation to Shinji and Rei.

With confused looks on their faces, Shinji and Rei realized that they were still holding hands and blushed. Rei made her way over to her seat next to Hikari and Shinji did likewise over at Toji and Kensuke.

"Oh my god Rei, what is that all about?" Hikari asked gleefully. "Are you two actually going out or something?"

Rei turned to her friend, smiling, and winked. "He asked me out this morning before school."

Immediately a high-pitched squeal came from Hikari as she bounced up and down in her seat and begged for more details; a task in which Rei was more than happy to accommodate.

"So Shinji, tell me what's going on man? Are you and Ayanami finally getting it on or what?" Toji inquired greatly

"Yeah dude, tell us! Are you and Rei a real couple now or what man?" asked Kensuke

With two of his closest friends hovering over his shoulders and hanging on to every word like little lost puppies, Shinji couldn't help but feel a bit of pride.

"I asked her out this morning." He said smugly

"Dude alright!" Toji hollered and smacked Shinji on the shoulders as a show of congrats.

"Man Shinji, I must admit you're one lucky guy. First Asuka and now Rei! Good for you bud!" said Kensuke

"Huh? Asuka? What do you mean by that? I never went out with her." Stated Shinji with an air of confusion

"Yeah right Ikari, you're actually going to sit there and tell us that the two of you never went out?" Toji smirked

"But we didn't..."

"Yeah sure, you're just 'friends'... I got ya." He replied sarcastically

"But we are..."

"Sure Shinji, sure. You know Shinji even though the two of you never made it official and announced it or anything, it was pretty obvious to everyone, you know." Stated Kensuke

"But, but..." Shinji stuttered as Asuka walked in class, and immediately the three boys abruptly silenced themselves.

[Huh?] Asuka noticed their quick change in character, "What are you three stooges looking at?" After a couple of dumbfounded looks and no real answer, Asuka scowled at the three boys and made it to her seat next to Hikari and Rei, only their abrupt change in demeanor didn't help things much either.

"What? Am I wearing something I'm not supposed to or anything?" she asked and instantly started to examine her clothing

"No, no it's not that... It's just... well, uh..." Hikari stammered

"It's just what? Come on spit it out already." Asuka was beginning to become impatient

"Shinji asked me out today." Rei said softly, awaiting the inevitable explosion and wasn't disappointed

"WHAT!" Asuka nearly launched out of her seat, as the two other girls recoiled back into theirs. Realizing the scene she just caused, she was glad that there was no one else present in the class. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she eventually calmed herself down and was able to think straight.

"Okay, say that again. Did you say he asked you out today?"

"Yes." Replied Rei, slowly making her way back into her normal sitting position. "I hope you're not angry Asuka, I know that you still have feelings for him, but..." Rei started to explain herself but was interrupted by a dumbfounded Asuka.

"Huh? Feelings? What do you mean Rei? I don't have any 'feelings' for Shinji." She retorted

"But the two of you did go out together at one point didn't you? I mean, we all know that you wanted to keep it a secret so we never actually come out and asked you two if you were dating, but..." And again Asuka interrupted her. Who was completely taken back by the accusations Rei was making about Asuka and Shinji.

"Dating? We never dated!" Asuka shouted

"So you're not angry then?" Rei asked hesitantly

"If you want him, you can have him!" and whirled in her seat, facing forward towards the front of the class, fuming.

"I think she's still sensitive about breaking up with Shinji..." Hikari whispered softly into Rei's ear, and Rei responded by nodding her head in agreement.

[What the hell is wrong with me? Why the hell should I care if those two want to go out with each other! It's not like me and Shinji are a couple anyway... I don't get what does he see in her anyway? I'm prettier than Rei is! Why wouldn't that bonehead want to go out with someone as beautiful as I am? Huh...? Oh my god, I'm doing it again! Stop thinking about and it'll all go away, just breathe Asuka, breathe...] Asuka mentally berated herself in an attempt to calm down, in the mean time the rest of her classmates entered the room, and wondered as to why Asuka was meditating at her desk.

Later that evening, Gendo was late coming home from work and Yui was beginning to get worried.

"I wonder where your father is at a time like this? It's not like him." She said with concern

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, maybe he had some stuff to catch up on." Shinji said cheeringly.

Noticing her son's good mood, she turned and walked over to him quizzically and smiled.

"Huh, what is it mother?"

"So... I heard that you and Rei are dating now. Is this true, or was Lilith just pulling my chain." She grinned

"Oh, yeah. Hehe, I asked her out this morning before school." Shinji responded somewhat embarrassingly, but happily.

"So that's why you wanted to leave for school early this morning, so you could talk to her in private. So when's your first date?" She said merrily

"Well..." Just as Shinji was about to answer, the door burst open to a greatly smiling Gendo Ikari.

"Ahh, my adoring family! How good it is to see you tonight, your father and husband are home at last!" He announced royally

Stunned by his unusual attitude, Yui walked over to Gendo and demanded to know where he has been for the past two and a half hours.

"Ahh, my beautiful wife, how was your day?" he responded

"Don't change the subject, where have you been?"

"I've been at a board of directors meeting all evening, and guess what?" he asked proudly

"What?" Yui growled

"You're looking at the new Commander of Gehirn!"

"Oh my god, you got promoted to Commander?" Yui couldn't believe her ears, Gendo had been at least two ranks down from reaching that title and now he was actually a commander of Gehirn. Gehirn, an offshoot of Nerv, is the civilian scientific research branch of the UN headquartered in Japan.

"But how?" she asked

"Well apparently the current commander decided to retire after twenty-eight years, Professor Fuyutski didn't want the responsibility because he said it would take him away from his research and they offered the position to me. So I said yes!"

"Oh my god this is great!" Yui hollered

"Yes, and as I treat I'm taking both of you out to dinner tonight!"

"Where to?" Yui asked joyfully

A half hour later…

"A ramen shop? You took us to a ramen shop?" she growled

"Hey, come on Yui I like this ramen shop." Gendo said somewhat despondently

"Yeah me too!" Shinji said as he slurped down his bowl of pork ramen

"But we come here all the time!" Yui argued

"True..." Gendo pondered, "But we would always order just one bowl of ramen, this time I'm having seconds!" he stated and ordered another round

"Yeah!" Shinji shouted in agreement

"Ugh! Men!" Yui gave up and lowered her face into her hands, shaking her head back and forth.


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Gendo Ikari walked into his new office as the new Commander of Gehirn. The previous commander, Commander Keel, decided to retire after twenty-eight years of service to the Japanese Government and to the UN. As he entered his office, he was impressed at just how extremely large and open it was.

[My god, this place is bigger than my house! What in the world could he possibly need this much space for? I mean he only had one desk, right?] Gendo thought to himself as he marveled at the room around him. Amazingly, there were no recognizable decorations of any kind in the whole place, just blank empty walls. In fact he couldn't even tell exactly where the lights in his office were coming from. [Hmm, I'm going to have to do something about that... At least make this place less intimidating to others, I don't want anyone to think that I'm on a power trip or that I'm an asshole or something when they walk in.] He mused.

Finally reaching his desk, he put all of his belongings from his previous office away in their rightful places and plopped down in his new high-back leather chair, kicking his feet up on his new desk and grinning to himself as he did. "It's good to be the boss." He said to himself. "Hmm, I really must do something with this office, it's just too gloomy for my taste. Maybe if I had a..."

Just then door to his office slid open and the light beaming in from the outside passageway came streaming in. Surprising Gendo from his own thoughts, which nearly made him lose his balance and fall out of his chair. Of course he was able to catch him himself on the edge of the desk before anything too embarrassing happened, although he was pretty fumed with someone just barging in without chiming the bell over the intercom or something

"What the...?"

"So enjoying your new office I see."

"Professor Fuyutski, it's good to see you." Said Gendo

"Well Gendo, I must admit, you sure know how to decorate an office. It looks... Ominous..." Said Fuyutski

"Yeah, well I was just thinking about putting up some things. Have any suggestions?" Gendo asked

"We'll have to talk about the décor in here a little later, but first I think there is something you have to see." Fuyutski stated

"Oh." Raising his eyebrow, "And what would that be?"

"It's out here on the command deck. One of our deep space satellites picked it up a few minutes ago. It's quite, astonishing really."

"Alright then, let's go." Stated Gendo as he leaped from his chair and was escorted by his long time teacher to the Command deck of Gehirn Headquarters.

As the elevator came to a complete stop at the command deck, Gendo noticed that it looked quite large and high-tech. There were huge holographic screens and images in the center of the deck, three large "super", super computers called the Magi, and a lot of other computers and screens with blinking lights that he couldn't even describe. At the front of the command deck were three high-tech individuals who were almost running the whole thing from their stations. Two of them he already knew, Makoto Hyuga and Aoba Shigeru, but the third he was having a hard time placing. A young female Gehirn officer, [She's probably new and just transferred in.] He thought.

"Well what do you people have for me?" Gendo announced

"Oh sir, I didn't realize you were already here." Came a voice from above. From just behind one of the three Magi systems, a young blond female doctor walked out with a clipboard and a big smile on her face.

"Ritsuko, it's good to see you again." Gendo said happily

"It's good to see you to sir." Smiling as she walked up to him

"How's Naoko doing?" he asked

"Mother's doing just fine, she's accepted a position at Tokyo-3 University." She stated with pride

"That's great Ritsuko, now what is it that you've found that's so 'astonishing' as Professor Fuyutski puts it?"

Giggling at the statement she led Gendo Ikari to his desk at the top level of the command deck.

"Maya, could you please feed the current footage to the holographic imager?" she asked loudly

"Of course Doctor." And punched in the command at her computer station

"So who's she again?" Gendo whispered to Ritsuko

"Oh her name is Maya Ibuki. She actually extremely talented."

Gendo nodded and waited for the image to materialize, and as it did he was taken aback by what he saw.

"Amazing isn't it?" Fuyutski stated

"My god, what is it?" Gendo exclaimed

"We have no idea. But we're trying to figure it out right now as we speak."

"Okay someone explain to me everything that's been happening so far." Said Gendo

"Well..." Ritsuko started out. "During one of our routine operations of mapping out the solar system, one of our deep space satellites was struck by a micro-meteor and was hurdled off course. We were finally able to stabilize the satellite before it crashed into the dark side of the moon, but as we did that, the satellite picked up this object in a low lunar orbit on the dark side. Unfortunately due to the collision, the satellite is operating at only 20% of peak proficiency, and the speed of which the images are coming in are no faster than the old style DSL of the early part of this century."

"Amazing, look at it, it must be at least 50 stories tall." Gendo was in awe

"Yes, at least. However, as far as we can currently tell, it is made completely of stone, and there's no way of telling what that thing behind it is. Perhaps a large spear or lance maybe." Fuyutski added

"It looks almost crucified don't you think?" Gendo asked, and Fuyutski nodded.

"Is it man made?" Gendo asked

"Highly doubtful, and there's no way we can retrieve this 'statue' if you want to call it, back to Earth for a complete examination." Said Fuyutski

"Is there any way we can send a team to the moon and study it from there?" Gendo inquired

"Not at this moment I'm afraid. The budget for our space exploration has been cut by half this fiscal year."

"Great, of all the times the government thinks it's advantageous to cutting spending, something like this happens. This could very well be the greatest discovery of mankind, and we can't even get up there and see what it is." Gendo hissed. "Is there a way to re-direct one of our other satellites to take position and scan this 'statue'?" he asked

"Well, Hubble-12 should be on its return perigee in two weeks. That's the closest one, and it'll take at least twice that long to repair this one." Said Ritsuko

"Hmm, well let's keep this satellite in its current orbit and record as much as you can about this thing until we can position the Hubble-12 for more detailed scans. There is no way I'm letting anyone else take the credit for our discovery." Said Gendo

"Yes sir." Ritsuko stated cheerfully

Down below Maya Ibuki and Aoba were talking about the thing that was on their screens at the moment.

"Hey Aoba." Said Maya

"Yeah."

"It almost looks like as if it was... 'Alive'... Wouldn't you think?" she asked

"Yeah really... Eerie isn't it?" he replied, and Maya nodded in response.

"What do you think it is?" Maya wondered

"I really have no idea... It could be from some ancient alien race left it here centuries ago as some sort of warning maybe, or maybe it was left here by accident. Who knows?" Aoba replied

"Well whatever it is..." Hyuga chimed in, "I got a feeling our lives are going to be far more interesting as days go by."

"Why do you say that?" asked Maya

"Oh, it's just a hunch I have." Hyuga answered, and both Maya and Aoba rolled their eyes as Hyuga's 'hunches' had a tendency to turn out true.

It was beautiful Saturday afternoon, and in the corner patio of a little coffee shop, there sat a man with white hair, and dressed in black, sipping a small cup of a freshly brewed delight. Enjoying the day, his relaxation he was suddenly interrupted by an abrupt jolt as someone bumped into the table and collapsed into the chair directly in front of him. Sighing to himself, he resigned to the conversation that was to come...

"Hello Uretil, beautiful day isn't it." He said

Uretil was also dressed in black, however instead of white hair, he had long flowing black hair and was wearing sunglasses to cover his eyes. "Yes it is, however wasted on these humans." Uretil hissed

"Now, now... Don't get huffy on me now. What do you want?" he asked

"Well... Huh? What are you drinking?" Uretil asked

"Oh this? I believe the humans call it a latté, I think that's they pronounce it. It's quite good actually, here try some." He said while handing over his drink.

Uretil looked at it suspiciously and cautiously lifted the latté to his lips and sipped, immediately spitting it out over the railing and curing. "This is vile! How can you possibly allow this putrid concoction into your holy body I'll never know!" he shouted and thrusted the drink, back into the hands of his companion.

"Well, to each his own then." And sipped it some more, enjoying the aroma and flavor of it. "Now what was it you were saying before Uretil?"

"Azrael, the humans have found the Evangelion..." Uretil announced to his companion

Slightly startled by this news, Azrael thought long and hard about this new situation. "Hmm, well this is quite a predicament isn't it? It is far too early for these humans to have done so without some outside help."

"Do you think that Mi..." Uretil was cut off as Azrael raised his hand for silence

Azrael thought some more on the matter at hand until he finally came to a decision. "It seems that we may have no choice but to boost up our time table. I will consult with Gabriel on this issue... However we may have no choice but to rid ourselves of the Third Child now... If the humans have already discovered the existence of the Evangelion then it is only a matter of time before Shinji Ikari will discover the whole truth about himself and of this world; and if he does he'll be able to pilot the Evangelion against us once again."

"But if that is true, then we should kill him now before he has that opportunity to remember everything." Uretil argued

"No, if we go after him now, it just may push him deeper into the light of truth... Then he may be able to prepare himself and the rest of these humans before our forces are ready, as you know Uretil, they have already grown thin due to Michael and his campaign." Stated Azrael

"True, but we cannot take the chance. We have to kill him now!" he shouted, and was now getting awestruck and suspicious glances from the other tables

"Keep your voice down Uretil, you're attracting attention to yourself..." Azrael sighed, "Have you been able to locate Adam yet?"

"No unfortunately, we cannot find either his body or his soul... It's as if he never existed." Uretil huffed in frustration

"Well, we both know that's impossible, after all Lilith still survives." Azrael chuckled

"As a human."

"Either way, we know that a soul can never be destroyed or vanish, it is simply reborn in another body... Hmm, that gives me an idea."

"What is it?" Uretil asked

"Have you been checking the humans for Adam's soul?" Azrael smirked

"Are you out of your mind? Adam would never be reincarnated as a human." Uretil disputed

"You never know Uretil, since the prevention of Third Impact, many things have happened that we never thought possible. Even among heaven..."

"Third Impact was not destined to occur that way..."

"Ahhh, but it did my brother, it did; and Shinji Ikari is the reason why these humans are all still here. Happy and going about their daily lives as if nothing happened at all, which in a strange, is actually true. The Second Impact in this reality was created by a meteor collision in the Antarctica continent, as was always believed in the other world, and no bodies of Lilith or Adam were ever discovered by anyone. So you see my brother, it all depends on your perceptions of the matter at hand. What may be true for you may not be true for someone else, as the existence of this world clearly proves."

"Alright, alright enough of the philosophy lesson Azrael. The question is what are we going to do about the Third Child?" Uretil was fuming

"Nothing..." Azrael stated flatly

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing!" Uretil demanded to know

"Exactly what I said, nothing... Not until I get the word from Gabriel, do you understand?" Azrael stated gazing up from his drink to Uretil

"Fine... Whatever..." Uretil mumbled under his breath. Not believing that they were not going to take action on the one biggest possible threat that was posed against them.

"Good, now with that settled, why don't you order yourself a cappuccino and relax, after all it is such a beautiful day." Azrael said lazily as he kicked up his boots on the table and felt the breeze on his face.

"Feh... I thinks going to take a walk, the smell of this place sickens me." Uretil spat

"Very well... Just don't do anything stupid you hear me." Azrael warned

"I won't!" and with those last words he was off.

_"You better not!"_ Azrael warned again telepathically

_"I won't! I swear now get off my back Azrael!"_ Uretil shot back


	8. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, there was a light, gentle breeze in the air and a red Toyota Prius X-4 driving down streets of Tokyo-3 with four loud teenagers in its belly.

"Hahaha! Did you see that home run I hit in the bottom of the 9th! Man was I on fire or was I on fire!" Toji bellowed

"Yeah Toji you were great, not that it matters or anything but... We still lost the game you know!" Kensuke screamed

"Well yeah but, hey, I looked amazing!" Toji smirked

"What does looking good have anything to do with it; we still lost the game by two runs!" Kensuke shot back

"Will you two stooges shut up back there! You know you two should count yourselves lucky that I'm even letting you guys in my car, dirty and smelling like that!" Asuka yelled

"Oh come on Asuka, you know you don't have to be like that." Said Toji

"Like what?" Asuka's eyes narrowed

"Oh well like, um, you know... 'Unfriendly' I guess is the proper term. After all..." Toji was completely cut off as Asuka went into an almost uncontrollable rage.

"UNFRIENDLY! What the hell are you talking about unfriendly! I'm plenty friendly I'll let you know! If it wasn't for me the two of you will still be at the baseball field right now waiting for a ride, instead of having the privilege of being able to ride in my new car you dumpfbacke!" Asuka cursed, while Hikari just sat in the passenger side amazed at the picture playing itself out before her. The three of them haven't stopped yelling at each other over something in the last ten minutes.

Kensuke leaned over to Toji and spoke in a low tone, hoping Asuka wouldn't overhear, "Man Toji, have you noticed that ever since Shinji has been seeing Rei that Asuka's become a little more 'pompous' than usual?"

"Yeah man, I wonder why?" Said Toji

Suddenly the car came to abrupt halt at a stop light at the corner of the Tokyo-3 National Museum and the Tokyo-3 Park.

"And just what in the hell is that supposed to mean?" The vein in Asuka's forehead pulsated and all the other occupants in the car gasped for air.

"Well Asuka..." Toji cleared his throat and an evil thought flashed through his mind. "Well Asuka, you know... How can I put this?" He said smugly while leaning closer to Asuka so he could rub it in more. "Ever since Shinji and Rei have been dating, the mere mention of their names together seems to put you in a sort of 'mood' if you will. Are you 'jealous' of the attention that Shinji has been giving to Rei? Hmmm?" Toji sneered.

However, Kensuke and Hikari knew just how dangerous and stupid that comment was as Asuka's fist nailed Toji directly in the face and sent him crashing back into his seat, tears streaming from his eyes. "What the hell was that for?"

"Oh you know what that was for!" Asuka hissed

Just then before the light turned green, Hikari looked outside her window and saw Shinji and Rei in sitting on one of the park benches.

"Oh look, there they are! Oh don't they look so cute together." Hikari gushed; Asuka on the other hand simply narrowed her eyes at the comment and suddenly something tugged at her heart. Seeing Shinji and Rei sitting together on the park bench, for some reason, made a lump in Asuka's throat, while the rest of the group peered out the windows and spotted their friends. But something didn't seem right.

"Hmm, something looks wrong here." Said Toji in a muffled tone as he was still holding onto his nose.

"Hey wait a minute, who the hell is that guy!" Shouted Kensuke

"Oh my god! Shinji!" Screamed Toji as he immediately grabbed his bat and bolted out of the car dodging two lanes of traffic followed closely by Kensuke. As Hikari and Asuka witnessed the horrifying scene that was taking place, they too jumped out of the car and ran over as fast to help their friends.

Shinji and Rei had spent nearly all of that day together, in fact Shinji had been so excited about this day that he'd barley gotten two hours of sleep the night before. But he didn't mind, the truth was that he wasn't even the slightest bit tired. Shinji had been completely energized since the moment he woke up that morning. He and Rei have had an absolutely wonderful day together, he took her to the Tokyo-3 Sea Life Show, which had many dolphin and whale shows that were amazing. Shinji and Rei sat pretty close to the large aquarium pools during the shows and were splashed several times by the killer whales and dolphins performing their tricks for the fans. After the final shows were over and they were able to dry off, they had lunch at a fancy restaurant, in which Shinji had spent nearly half of his income on, and finally the two love birds went to go see a romantic movie at the movie theater.

After the movie was over Shinji and Rei decided to go for a walk to the park and take in the day, talking the entire way over to the park from the theater, they weren't aware that they were being followed.

[Why in the name of God should I have to wait for orders concerning this? The third child is a threat to us all, and he must be dealt with immediately.] Uretil told himself. He had been on Shinji's trail since he left the coffee shop and spotted the third child entering the movie theater with the first child. All he needed now was to wait for an opportunity until they were relatively alone and secluded before he could strike.

As Shinji and Rei enter the Park, they noticed that they were the only ones there. Spotting an empty bench not too far away, Shinji led Rei over to the bench, sat down and started to go over everything that has happened in his mind. Sharing the day with Rei had been absolutely incredible and he didn't want it to end.

"Shinji?" asked Rei

"Yes."

"What are you thinking about?"

"About today, I'm having a great time spending it with you. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun." Shinji smiled

"Really, me too." She giggled, "Remember when the whale splashed us the first time and you were spitting up all that water."

"Well I wasn't expecting that to happen right away you know, I think I swallowed some of it too, now that I think about it."

However, behind the thick trees, Uretil was stalking his prey, looking around the park he saw that there were no others here, they were completely alone. Aside from the fact that the city streets were packed with people driving their cars, only a few hundred yards away from the park entrance, he decided that it was worth the risk. Public exposure to the humans or not, the third child could not be permitted to live, and from under his black coat he pulled his angelic dagger. The blade was nine inches long and was forged by the hands of his fellow Angels of pure holy silver from heaven's furnace; the hilt was adorned with gold trim and exotic blue diamond jewels. Etched onto the blade were holy Seraphim Runes, which read 'Let your heart be your guide.'

Fortunately, the direction that the Third and First Children were facing was in the opposite direction from which Uretil was emerging. Slowly he appeared out of the trees, the dagger by his side and was now silently making his way towards his unsuspecting victims. [Two filthy, monkeys for the price of one, how fortunate, Gabriel will praise me for my actions here today.] Uretil thought proudly to himself as he made his way closer.

Shinji draped one of his arms around Rei's shoulder and felt happy as she rested her head against him Then quite suddenly, sharp pain shot through the palms of his hands, and they began to burn furiously as if they were on fire.

"Argh!" He screamed

"Shinji what is it!" Rei's eyes were wide with worry

"I don't know... My hands they feel like..." But before Shinji was able to complete the sentence, he caught a glint a something shiny out of the corner of his eye and instinctively pushed Rei off the bench as far as he could and jumped out of the way as a powerful blade came chopping down on the wooden backrest. Shards of painted wood fractured and splintered into the air as the assailant, dressed in all black, yanked his weapon from the broken park bench and regained his target.

"Rei get out of here!" Shinji shouted, as a terrified Rei frantically tried to make it to her feet, and as his words left his mouth, the man in black leaped over the destroyed resting place and made a bee-line straight for Shinji. Before he could even react, Uretil slashed his chest and blood sprayed forth from his open wound like a geyser, and Shinji dropped to his knees from the pain.

"SHINJI!" Rei screamed in horror

Uretil raised his dagger and was prepared for a killing blow, thrusting his dagger downward, Shinji had enough state of mind to grab his assailant by the wrists and halt his attack. As he held on to his attacker's wrists, Shinji hands began to burn and he could see wisps of smoke rise from between his fingers. Uretil hollered in pain and immediately retracted his arms away from Shinji's grasp and landed a powerful kick to his chest that sent him flying back nearly twenty feet.

Shinji landed squarely on his back and had the wind knocked out of him, as he raised his head to regain his senses, he spotted his attacker flying into the air and landed directly on top of him, his dagger poised for the kill. Shinji quickly moved his head as the blade penetrated the earth beside him, instead of his skull. Shinji immediately wrapped his arm around his attacker, locking it at the elbow and began punching him in the face as hard as he could. A strange orange liquid trickled out from the corner of his mouth; it wasn't blood, at least not in the same sense that Shinji knew blood.

Uretil was surprised at the boy's resilience and even smiled as was struck in the face numerous times. But enough was enough. Uretil punched the Third Child in his chest with his free hand and received the reaction he was looking for. Shinji screamed in pain and loosened his grip on his other arm. Pulling his dagger out of the ground, he reared up once again to deliver the killing blow.

As Shinji tried to get through the pain, he could clearly see the light reflecting off the blade of the knife, expecting to be stabbed at any moment, he was stunned to suddenly see his attacker's face being struck with a baseball bat. Toji had swung his bat at full strength and knocked Uretil off of Shinji, almost a good ten feet away. Kensuke, holding his own bat, was instantly by Shinji's side, along with Rei, Asuka and Hikari. Toji however, followed the man in black who tried to kill his friend and was on top of him within seconds.

Uretil's sunglasses were shattered and he was bleeding from his mouth and nose; he could hear the footsteps of the one who attacked him not far behind. He turned quickly to see the wooden bat being swung at his head once again; barely ducking underneath the human weapon, Uretil took the opportunity and jumped forth at the filthy human who dared attacked him, and slashed his face from brow to cheek.

Screaming in pain, and blinded in one eyes as blood flowed into it, he lashed out with his bat again, only to hit nothing but air as Uretil once again dodged it with ease. Toji was slashed three times in quick succession, twice in the chest in an "X" pattern and once across his stomach. The intense pain of his wounds caused Toji to drop his bat as Uretil landed a roundhouse kick directly in the center of his sternum and sent him careening into a nearby public trash can about fifteen feet away.

"TOJI!" Hikari screamed and instantly left Asuka and Rei with Shinji and ran to Toji's side. While at the same time Kensuke barely had enough time to duck as Toji flew over his head and immediately rushed Uretil with all the strength he had.

Shinji could barely sit up to see what was happening when he heard Hikari scream. Asuka and Rei trying to attend to his wounds, but they had no first aid kit with them and they didn't know what to do. Rei was crying and Asuka looked almost panicked as his blood continued to gush from his body, and as he watched what was happening to his friends, his eyes went wide with fear.

Kensuke swung his bat low and connected with Uretil's knee and dropped him to the ground.

"Argh! You filthy, tailless monkey, you'll pay for that!" He cursed

"You son of a bitch, you'll pay for what you did to my friends!" Kensuke shot back and swung his bat again, this time at Uretil's head.

Uretil however, merely grabbed the bat out of the air and ripped it from Kensuke's hands and tossed it carelessly away, unknowingly it landed only three feet from Shinji. He then shot to his feet quicker than Kensuke could register and sunk his blade deep into his shoulder, penetrating the other side and twisting the blade.

"Arrgghhhh!" Kensuke screamed in excruciating pain

"I'll make you suffer before I kill you." He said softly into Kensuke's ear and then punched him with the back of his fist across his face, which shattered his glasses, and sent spinning around with his back to Uretil. Uretil then took his dagger and lacerated a very deep wound into Kensuke's back from his shoulder to his lower back, with blood spewing out like a broke water balloon.

"Arghhhhhhh!" He screamed out as he dropped to the ground, with Uretil above him, his bloodstained dagger in his hand.

"Kensuke, Noooo!" Shinji cried out, and suddenly, the pain he felt was gone and was replaced with something else. He couldn't explain what it was exactly, nor did he care. He wanted to avenge his friends and with this newfound energy, Shinji leapt to his feet with such amazing speed that he literally knocked Asuka and Rei to the ground; and for just a split second before Shinji shot to his feet, Rei could have sworn that she saw his eyes change colors. But it happened so fast that she just couldn't tell if what she saw really happened. Shinji instantly grabbed the bat off the ground and jumped into the air, launching himself at Uretil.

Uretil spun around only to see the Third Child in the air behind him with a baseball bat in his hands, flying straight towards him, his eyes red.

"What the fu..." And was struck on the side of his head and was sent flying across the parkway nearly thirty feet away.

"Rei, Asuka look after Kensuke!" Shinji shouted as he dashed towards Uretil, being too scared and surprised at the same time, they didn't argue and ran to help Kensuke. "I'll make you pay for this!" he shouted as he advanced on his enemy.

Uretil, his face broken and bleeding, raised his AT Field just in time as Shinji swung his bat, and shattering it on the AT Field. As the glowing orange hexagons of his At Field disappeared, Uretil launched himself at Shinji. He tackled the Third Child to the round with his dagger at Shinji's throat; however, Shinji was able to stop the blade from sinking in as he forced Uretil's hands away from him. The back of Shinji's hands began to bleed and a faint orange glow radiated from his palms as the flesh on Uretil's wrists, and hands, sizzled and were slowly burning away. Uretil tried his best to ignore the pain and was focused on killing the Third Child beneath him, and noticed once again that his eyes were now red instead of blue.

"How did you do that?" Uretil hissed

Shinji spat back in Uretil's face, straining to keep the blade away from his neck, Shinji rolled his body taking Uretil with him and was on top of him. Uretil however was quicker than Shinji had thought and jerked his dagger back towards himself and head butted Shinji between his eyes. Shinji lost his grip on the dagger and Uretil thrusted it into Shinji's stomach.

"SHINJI!" Rei screamed as she witnessed him being stabbed and tried to run to side to help him, but Asuka grabbed her and to keep her from getting herself killed. "What are you doing! Let me go Asuka!"

"No don't, you'll get yourself killed." Asuka shouted

"Let me go, he's going to kill Shinji!" Rei cried loudly, tears streaming down her cheeks

"I can't Rei!" Asuka shouted back, "Don't you think I want to help him too! But we can't, we'll just get killed!" Her voice was trembling as she said those words, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help her friend, her eyes watered up with stinging hot tears and they slowly flowed down her face.

"But..." Rei was shaking with fear now, and she fell to the ground, crying; but just then they heard someone shouting from behind, running towards them.

Shinji grabbed the dagger in his stomach and pulled away, blood streaming from the open wound. Uretil then struck Shinji with an open hand punch and sent him flying off of him ten feet until he hit a tree and slid down it. Uretil was on him in less than a second, grabbed Shinji's throat and threw his head back against the tree. As pieces of bark shattered and splintered from the main trunk of the tree, Uretil smiled on his victim as he saw his eyes go back to blue and laughed. Squeezing the Third Child's throat, he could hear a gurgling sound as Shinji tried to breath.

"Hehe! You'll never threaten our existence again you filthy monkey." And raised his dagger high, ready for the kill. Suddenly shots rang out from nowhere and Uretil was hit four times in the shoulder and chest. Orange blood splattered everywhere as Uretil was knocked away from Shinji. Looking up to see who shot him, a man with a long ponytail and stubble on his face aimed again as Uretil made it up to his feet and dashed towards him, but was only met by a hail bullets as they struck him in his chest and neck. The life energy seemed to flow out of his body, as he slowly fell to the ground, dagger still in hand. Uretil once again tried to make it up, cursing and bleeding, but to no avail as the human once again fired, this time two directly into his heart and one in the center of his head, and everything went black.

Uretil's body collapsed limply on the ground and Shinji tried to stay conscious as this man rushed to his side.

"Hey kid! Kid! Can you hear me!" said the man

"My friends..." Shinji coughed, his throat was extremely sore, and it stung to talk

"They'll be alright kid, an ambulance is on the way!" replied the man

"Shinji! Are you okay?" Cried Rei as she ran to his side, tears still streaming from her eyes.

"I'll be okay..." his voice trailed off as his vision went blurry, and then his entire body went numb.

"Hey Kid! Stay with us man!" shouted the man, but Shinji couldn't hear him anymore and passed out.


	9. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Shinji was standing in the middle a vast dark expanse, as he looked around he could see nothing, absolutely nothing.

"Where am I?" he asked himself

"You are here." Came a voice behind him.

Shinji turned suddenly to find himself sitting on a train, across from where he was sitting sat a young boy. A young boy that Shinji recognized... Himself

"You!" he shouted

"Yes, me..." responded the boy

"Who are you? Why have you been following me? Where am I?" Shinji demanded

"I am you... I have always been with you... And you are here..." the boy answered with an innocent smile.

"This doesn't make any sense... What's going on here!" As he looked out the windows of the train he could see the nightmares he had been having these past couple of months all formed into one. The giant purple Evangelion, the 'Angels' as those other monsters were called, the visions of Asuka, Rei, Misato, his father, himself and everyone else in his life flashed before him like a movie.

"You are remembering..." he smiled again.

"Remembering what!" Shinji demanded once again "What is it that I am remembering damn it!"

"Your life." Said the boy as he stood up made his way towards the next car.

Shinji stared at him in utter shock and confusion, "My life...? Wait a minute, what are you talking about my life! None of this ever happened in my life! These are all just dreams, nightmares, they're not real! They never happened!" Shinji screamed as he got to his feet following the boy.

Suddenly the boy stopped just before he opened the hatch to the next train car and looked back at Shinji, "Yes they did... You just don't remember yet." And stepped through

Shinji ran after him and entered and found himself in a small apartment. As he looked around he could tell that it was early morning, but the younger version of himself was nowhere to be seen. Then suddenly one of the doors slid open and Asuka walked out, she was dressed in her old middle school uniform, she went over to the door next to hers and entered the room. Shinji noticed a sign on the door that read 'Shinji's Lovely Suite.' He blinked at the sign and heard Asuka speaking rather loudly.

"Shinji! Wake up baka, you have to make me breakfast!" she shouted

[What the...?] Shinji thought to himself.

"Okay, okay Asuka, just give me a minute to get dressed will you?" said the boy's voice from inside the room.

As Shinji peered through over Asuka's head, he saw the younger version of himself arguing with the younger version of Asuka. Then Shinji caught a movement from the corner of his eye, he turned his head quickly to see a penguin of all things, with red feathers on top of its head, emerge from the kitchen and squawk.

[This is strange; I don't remember any of this... Since when did Asuka and I live together with a penguin?] He said to himself as he walked over to the kitchen area, to see that there were two refrigerators. [Why would anyone need two refrigerators?] He gazed around his surroundings only to find himself even more confused than he was five minutes ago, then suddenly he heard 'Good morning Misato' from behind him. He turned to see himself and Asuka making their way to the kitchen, and Misato Katsuragi turning the corner to do the same.

[What the hell! Since when did I ever live with Ms. Katsuragi!] He said to himself with a wide-eyed stare at the three of them. Misato looked extremely tired, and she was dressed in a rather tight, cut off tank top and shorts. She went directly for the second refrigerator and grabbed a beer of all things and gulped down the entire can ferociously.

"Now that's the way to wake up in the morning!" she burped loudly.

Shinji took a step forward and suddenly found himself in yet another location, this time it was at his old school, Tokyo-3 Junior High. He saw himself, Toji and Kensuke in the back of the school... With himself on the ground and Toji and Kensuke standing over him.

"Sorry I had to that kid, but I had to clobber you at least once." Said Toji as he rubbed his fists.

Shinji was looking at the scene and cursing at the whole situation. "What the hell is going on? That never happened, Toji and I never had a fight with each other!"

"But you did." Came a voice from behind, and the younger Shinji stepped to the older Shinji

"What the hell are you talking about! This never happened!"

"Yes it did, this was the first day the two of you met. You see, the reason why he hit you was because he blamed you for what happened to his little sister. His sister was seriously injured during your fight with the Angel in the Evangelion, it was your first fight, and there was an accident." Said the younger Shinji

"Evangelion... You mean that big purple creature I kept dreaming about?" Shinji asked

"Yes." And the surroundings changed again, this time they were in a large underground hangar. Shinji looked to see the huge purple beast directly behind him in a pool of orange liquid.

"This is the Evangelion." Said the younger Shinji

"But what is it?" asked the older Shinji

"The Evangelions were created by man in order to combat the Angels. The Evangelions were believed to have been created by the DNA of the first Angel called Adam, but they were not. They were in fact created from Lilith, the one who gave birth to the human race. This one, Eva Unit-01, was yours... It was mother..."

"Mother?" Shinji asked, he was dumbfounded

"Yes... Mother died when we were four years old and her soul was somehow transferred into Eva Unit-01. She protected us when we needed it the most; she was always there for us, even when we didn't know it."

"But mother didn't die..." Then in a flash, he suddenly Shinji remembered... "I... I-I remember..." His eyes glazed over as the horrible, gut retching memories came rushing back into his mind. "I was standing next to a tall glass window somewhere, and I could see mother below me... She was working on something... This, she was working on this, there was an accident, a-a bright light and mother... Mother was... NOOO! I don't wasn't to remember!"

Shinji grabbed the sides of his head to make the terrible truths about what 'really' stop from entering his mind. But he couldn't stop them; they came flooding back to him like a tidal wave. His mother's body laying on the ground, his father abandoning him on the streets in the pouring rain the very next day, moving in with Misato, meeting Rei and Asuka, and the first days of school when he met Toji and Kensuke, the battles against the Angels... Everything, even at the end when Third Impact almost happened, and his dreams or visions that caused him to forget his past.

Shinji could remember the pain, the suffering, the despair and the utter and complete loneliness of his former life. But he could also remember his final decision, whether to end his pain and ease the suffering of all mankind and join them in one glorious consciousness, or to live a full life as an individual. A life capable of feeling pain and suffering the same as before, and he remembered... He chose life, because even though coming together with the rest of humanity and feeling no pain sounded like heaven, it was not. It was a fake world with false illusions; it was NOT life. Shinji chose life instead, full of all the pain and suffering in the world, because it was real, and because there was always a chance at happiness that comes along with pain. To have one, you must risk having the other. He accepted his life... He accepted himself, and finally in the end, he learned to love himself. The illusions of the false world around him shattered like glass and everyone he knew was standing around him; applauding his decision not to run away and was congratulating him.

Suddenly Shinji found himself lying on his back, in the vast black emptiness again, tears flowing from the corners of his eyes. "It's true... It's all true, everything that has happened in my life wasn't real... This life I remember, growing up with Asuka, Toji and Kensuke, running into Rei for the first time on that street corner going to school, my mother still being alive, my father being a kind and caring person... None of that was supposed to have happened."

"Yes it was, and it did." Said younger Shinji as he emerged from the shadows.

Older Shinji slowly sat up and looked upon him with sadness in his eyes. "How is that possible? Your life is the life that actually happened! All the pain, the loneliness, that world was real, that world was the one that actually existed!" His eyes were downcast now upon the black floor beneath him and he fought back the sadness within him. "The world I live in was created after yours... It's fake, nothing that I remember happening in that world really happened."

"But they did happen, just as you remember them happening... Growing up with Asuka, Toj..."

"How! How could both things have happened at the same time! How is that possible!" Shinji screamed, he didn't understand

"Because you wanted them to happen. The life that you remember 'me' having was replaced by the life that 'you' lived." Don't you see, by accepting who you were and what you truly wanted from your life, Third Impact did not happen. The Human Instrumentality Project never occurred... At least not in the way that our father, or those at SEELE wanted it too, instead the entire history of the world was rewritten, reality was remolded for you. You,.. I... We saved humanity from extinction."

"But, then... So which world is real? Which world is fake?" Shinji forced the words past his lips as a lump formed in his throat.

"They're both real... We recreated the world, our friends, our family, everyone we know... We recreated the world for them just as much as for ourselves. We wanted to be happy, and now we are." Said younger Shinji as he kneeled next to his counterpart and place a caring hand on his shoulder.

"But then why is all of this happening? Why must I remember what came before?" Shinji asked

"Because the Angels are trying to commence Third Impact. They are trying to erase us from existence, you're going to need these memories to help you fight them." Said the younger Shinji

"But how, the Eva is gone, we have nothing to fight them with."

"You will... My time is almost up now." The younger Shinji smiled and helped his older self back to his feet.

"Will I ever see you again?" he asked

The younger Shinji simply innocently and replied, "Every time you look into the mirror, you will see me, because you will see yourself." And suddenly a bright, heavenly glow surrounded both Shinji's; rising into the air they slowly merged together into one being. Becoming of one mind, and one spirit, the past and the present, the world that was and the world that is... Shinji was whole...

It was night and the rain was pouring down mercilessly. A lone figure with a long black trench coat, short black hair and an air of power around him, stood on top of a large skyscraper overlooking the entire city of Tokyo-3. As this figure overlooked the city, he heard the splashing of footsteps behind him.

"Report Azrael..."

"Gabriel, Sir... Our forces have reached the Divine Pearly Gates, but are meeting heavy resistance from Michael's army." Azrael reported

"Casualties?" asked Gabriel

"So far our forces have been lucky and casualties are low, however, with Michael leading his army at the Gates, we suspect the numbers to rise dramatically over the next few weeks."

"I see... Michael is a powerful Archangel and is not to be underestimated... We may have to rethink our strategy in taking the Gates." Gabriel spoke flatly "What of Adam? Has there been any success in locating him?"

"No sir.."

"Hmm, that is unfortunate..." Gabriel pondered

"Sir there is... one more thing..." Azrael spoke hesitantly

"What is it?"

"It is about Uretil..." If an Angel could sweat, Azrael would be doing just that thing right now, "He has attacked the Third Child and was killed by another human... He was not able to slay Shinji Ikari."

Gabriel stood silently for a long time pondering the sudden change in the situation. "I see... Uretil was a fool."

"Sir I specifically told him not to attack the boy, but he disobeyed my orders..." Azrael started to apologize

"There is no need for that Azrael, I do not blame you. I blame Uretil, he had no concept of strategy and it cost him his life." He stated harshly

"Sir, the humans have his body, if they perform an autopsy and discover what he is then..."

"Do not worry yourself my old friend, I will take care of disposing Uretil's corpse myself. The humans will never know what is occurring under their very noses... And what is the status of the Third Child?"

"He is currently at Tokyo-3 General Hospital, in surgery." Azrael stated

"Hmm, is it possible that he has remembered his true past?" Gabriel asked

"There is no way of knowing for sure sir. Not until he wakes at least, but even then he may choose not to reveal himself."

"We will need to keep a closer eye on him." Gabriel hissed

"Yes sir... What of the other chosen children sir? What shall we do with them, if the Third has remembered, then it will only be a matter of time before they may, as well."

"True, but remember, Shinji Ikari was the one who remade the world, not the others. However the First Child and Lilith may pose a possible problem for us in the future." Gabriel mused

"What shall we do with them sir?" asked Azrael

"Nothing for now, we must focus our attention upon the Third and see what he knows. But... What do you know of the Second?" Gabriel sneered

"The Second Child has a lot of pride within her; possibly a trait carried over from the last world."

"Good, she could prove useful in attaining our goals." Gabriel smiled

"How is that sir?"

"If she does still have her old pride, she may also be prone to be just as unstable as she was in the last world, and if she is... Hehehe, she could also prove to be a great distraction for Shinji Ikari and cause him great pain."

Azrael smiled, he liked where this conversation was going. "So, should we kill her? Or simply cause her to 'breakdown'?"

Gabriel turned with an evil grin on his face, "I don't want her dead, just 'unhinged' if you catch my meaning. Send Barbelo to do it, she loves this kind of work."

"Of course sir, when would you like it done?" Azrael smirked

"Not until the Third Child is out of the hospital and attending school once again, I want him to suffer knowing that he could have helped her, and didn't."

"Yes sir." Azrael smiled, bowed, and backed away

Gabriel turned back to his view of the city and spat in disgust, "Humans are such filthy animals. Why would God allow such abominations to exist? What does he see in them?" He had asked himself those same questions many times before over the eons, and never received an answer, just like now. "Well I suppose I should go dispose of Uretil before those monkeys find out what he is..." Gabriel sighed as he stepped on the ledge of the skyscraper and stepped off, descending to the ground below.


	10. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

Shinji awoke to find himself lying on his back on a hospital bed wrapped in heavy bandages across his chest, stomach and hands, staring at an off- white, tiled ceiling, and the air smelled of disinfectants.

"Unfamiliar ceiling." He said to himself, and then smiled at the irony of it.

"So you're finally awake huh?" came a voice from the other end of the room.

Shinji lifted his head to see Kensuke lying on his stomach; his back was completely wrapped in bandages, as was his shoulder.

"Kensuke, how are you feeling?" Shinji asked

"Well not bad considering I nearly had my back sliced into two separate pieces, I was lucky that maniac didn't sever my spine. The doctors said I'm going to be fine though, but that I should take it very easy after they let us out of here." Kensuke smiled

"They did huh? When will that be?" Shinji asked

"Oh they said that we should be able to leave in a couple of weeks or so."

"A couple of weeks?" Shinji exclaimed

"Yeah, they want to keep us around just in case we may need something, you know."

"Oh, well, okay then. Hey... Where's Toji?"

"Hmm, oh they should be bringing him in a couple of minutes, they had to stitch him up pretty good. He got cut up more than we did." Kensuke said solemnly

Shinji felt a pang of guilt as he remembered Toji going after the Angel that attacked him, he was hurt really bad, but just how bad Shinji didn't know. He could remember Toji getting slashed across his face and was worried that he might be blinded for life.

"It's my fault, he was after me and you guys got hurt because of me." Shinji said to himself, not actually realizing that he was speaking out loud.

"What? Shinji don't blame yourself for what happened man. That maniac attacked you for no reason what so ever, he was insane and he was trying to kill you. Don't blame yourself for what we did man. Toji and I came to protect you man!" Kensuke said

"But you guys got really hurt because of it. He could've killed you..."

"Could've, should've, would've... The point is that he didn't, and that bastard got exactly what he deserved man."

"Huh? What happened to him anyway?" Shinji asked

"Oh he was shot and killed, man. The doctors told me that he must have been on some serious drugs or something because it took like fifteen bullets to bring the guy down man!" Kensuke explained

"Who shot him?"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe who it was man. It was Ms. Katsuragi and her boyfriend! They saved us!" Kensuke exclaimed

"Really? It was Misato and Kaji that saved us?" Shinji was amazed, what were the odds of that happening. However considering everything else that has been happening recently, he guess he shouldn't have been surprised.

Kensuke raised his eyebrows at Shinji's seemingly 'familiarity' with Ms. Katsuragi and her boyfriend. "Shinji... Just how is it that you know the man's name before I even told you what it was? Kensuke inquired

"Huh? Oh... Uh, Misato told us about him before remember? Hehehe, Back at Tokyo-3 Junior High, Hehehe..." Sweat beaded on Shinji's brow as he tried to play off his explanation, hoping that Kensuke would buy it and let the matter drop.

"No actually I don't remember, and even if she did... Number one, why would I remember something like Ms. Katsuragi telling us about her boyfriend from four years ago? Number two, since when have you been on a first name basis with her any way? Is there something secret going on between you two that I should know about?" Kensuke eyed him suspiciously.

"I-Uh-Oh-Uh... I-I, it's uh, I-it's nothing like that! I-I swear!" Shinji protested at what Kensuke was apparently suggesting

"Really?" Kensuke spoke skeptically

"Really! I swear!"

"Hmm, I guess I'll just have to see about that..."

Just then the doctor, along with a nurse, entered the room with Toji right behind them on a portable hospital bed being pushed by a couple of orderlies. Toji had been wrapped in bandages on his left side of his face covering his eye, and his entire upper torso and stomach as well. Placing him about six feet away from Shinji, the orderlies left the room and the doctor spoke to Toji while the nurse gave him some medication to swallow for the pain.

"Now Mr. Suzuhara, I want you to take it easy while you're still here. We don't want to have to replace those stitches or anything so you should just rest for now okay." The doctor stated

"Sure thing Doc." Toji replied

"Good, now I suggest that all three of you get a good night's sleep. You've all been through a lot today." The Doctor spoke aloud

"Uh, doctor?" Shinji spoke

"Yes Mr. Ikari?"

"When will get to see our families?"

"Tomorrow morning, all of your families have been notified of your condition and will be able to visit you in the morning after your check ups." The doctor smiled. He seemed to be a nice old man, with graying hair and a pair of old style glasses that had one of those strings attached to the frames so that they could hang from around the neck if you took them off.

"Thanks doctor." Shinji replied

"You're welcome... Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Said the three friends in unison

As the doctor left, Shinji was silent for a few minutes, but then decided to speak up. "Uh Toji?"

"Yeah."

"How's your eye?" he asked hesitantly

"Not bad, the doctors said that I'd have to have laser surgery done to it so that I'll be able to see out of it again, but it's no big deal. They do it all the time so I'm sure it'll be okay. They have me scheduled for it in the next couple of days." Toji said frankly

"Oh, I'm sorry you got hurt Toji." Shinji said

"You don't have to apologize, I'm just glad that lunatic didn't kill you."

"Yeah me too... Toji?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

"No problem man, anytime." Toji reassured his friend.

Not far from the hospital, the rain was pouring down in large heavy sheets that would have forced even the bravest man to run in doors for cover. But this was no man walking in the rain, nor would he want to be. As Gabriel neared the Tokyo-3 City Morgue, he could smell the stench of death emanating from this place, and smirked.

"Uretil, you were a fool, and you even allowed yourself to be slain by one of these lowly primates... What in God's name were you thinking?" Gabriel sneered, "Oh well, all for the best I suppose."

Pushing on the double doors to the building, he discovered that were locked. "Now who would want to break into a place like this and steal a body?" he said to himself, "Oh, I guess that would be me, now wouldn't it? Well, I don't actually intend on stealing it, destroying it would be good enough."

Gabriel extended his right hand and slowly an orange glow started to appear and suddenly the doors to the building were blown away in a volley of shattered wood, metal and pieces of concrete. Almost instantly the night guards were on him with their nightsticks drawn. "Hmph, stupid humans!" Once again extending his right arm, the orange hexagons of Gabriel's AT Field flashed before his eyes and the guards were repelled backwards through the concrete walls. Sighing, he looked around to see that there were four more guards heading in his direction, and smirked.

The head mortician for the night, Dr. Goro Fugiwara and his assistant Yoshiro Kodakumi, were working late at the Tokyo-3 City Morgue and were pondering over the latest 'guest' that was brought to them earlier that night.

"Doctor look at this!"

"What is it Yoshiro?" asked the doctor

"I took sample of the strange orange liquid coming from this man's body and well, look for yourself!"

As the doctor looked into the microscope he was awestruck to see blood cells in this orange liquid. "How can this be? This man's blood is orange!" the doctor exclaimed

"Yes sure, but that's not all. I just ran a DNA analysis on the blood and look on the monitor." Yoshiro was positively ecstatic at this point

"What is it now?"

"Look sir... There's only a 96.04% match." As Yoshiro explained the latest finding on the DNA tests, the doctor's eyes grew wide.

"That's not possible, that means that there's a 03.96% difference between his DNA and ours." Doctor Fugiwara could almost feel his heart skip a beat as the realization was hitting in.

"Yes sir, and look at this report. I just finished the autopsy on him five minutes ago before I took the samples of orange liquid from his body... Sir, he has no heart."

"What!" the doctor hollered

"Yes sir, there was a strange ball of red glass where his heart should've been. There were two bullet holes in it sir. Obviously when he was shot earlier today." Yoshiro could hardly contain his excitement

"This can't be possible... He's not a man..." the doctor said softly

"Yes sir, that means that this 'man' is not a man at all! He's not even human!" Yoshiro was too excited to see the concern in the doctor's eyes

"Exactly... He's not human, so where did he come from? This is not good." He said solemnly

"Not good, sir we may have just discovered another form of life! A new species!"

"Yoshiro, bring me this man's file! I want to know where this man comes from!" The doctor ordered

"Of course sir." As Yoshiro brought the doctor the report on the man that was brought in, he began to scowl and curse under his breath.

"Damn it, it says nothing of this man's origins... The only thing it says is that he attacked a group of kids in the park earlier today with a bizarre knife and nearly killed them. Apparently an off duty government official name Kaji Ryoji came to the aid of the children and shot the man fifteen times before he finally succumbed to his injuries and died." The doctor was thinking hard over this information, "Yoshiro where's that knife that this man used to attack those kids with?"

"Oh, I believe that the police took it earlier as evidence to the crime." Yoshiro explained

"Hmm, it says here that there appeared some sort of strange writings on the blade. Possibly an ancient form of Celtic or Druidic runes, no one at the scene was able to identify the language." He furrowed his brow

"Yes sir, it also appears that one of the kids he attacked was the son of the Commander of Gehirn."

"Gehirn? Hmm, why is it that I'm nervous about this one?" he said to himself, and suddenly there was a loud noise coming from the other end of the building that sounded a lot like an explosion.

Instantly, Dr. Fugiwara and Yoshiro bolted out his office into the hallway to see what was happening. There was a bright flash of orange light, and suddenly the wall at the end of the hall, twenty feet away exploded as two bodies were blasted through it. As the cloud of dust and debris was clear enough, they could see that they the bodies of the two guards posted at the front lobby of the building.

"Oh my god doctor, what's going on!" Yoshiro was in a state of panic at this time

"You two, get back now!" shouted another guard coming around the corner followed by three others.

Not wanting to get in their way, Dr. Fugiwara and Yoshiro both jumped back into the doctor's office and locked the door.

"Yoshiro, call the police!" the doctor shouted

"Yes sir!" Yoshiro didn't need to be told twice, he was scared out of his mind. [What in the world could throw two full-grown men through a solid concrete wall nine inches thick?] He wondered as he dialed the local police department. "Yes! This Yoshiro Kodakumi at the Tokyo-3 City Morgue! We're being attacked down here and we need help right now! ... What! ... I don't know who! Look just send some cops down here right now before it's too la..." Suddenly the door to the office exploded and sent fragments of wood and shards of glass flying everywhere. Doctor Fugiwara and Yoshiro screamed as the wood and glass sliced their skin.

Gabriel couldn't help but laugh at the odd picture he was looking at, two full-grown human men, huddled in a small office, scared out of their minds. "So which one of you can tell me where my friend is?" he smiled

"W-W-What friend?" The doctor asked trembling

"Oh you know the one, white skin, black hair, red eyes, and he probably has a lot of bullet holes in him." Gabriel smiled

Doctor Fugiwara pointed a shaking finger to the next room where all the bodies were stored; blood trickled from all the small cuts on his face and sweat beaded off his brow.

"Good you're coming with me to show me exactly where he is." He sneered, "You on the other hand... It doesn't look like I'll be needing you anytime soon so..." Gabriel said with a smile and raised his hand. Yoshiro was frozen with fear and wasn't even able to move when an orange light exploded from Gabriel's hand and sent him crashing into the back wall, breaking his neck and fracturing his skull into a hundred pieces. Blood oozed from Yoshiro's head as his body slowly slid down the wall and settled on the cold tile floor below.

Doctor Fugiwara stared in abject horror, speechless, as he saw his assistant's body being thrown into the air like a rag doll and his life stripped away and his body crushed in a fraction of a second like you would crush a bug under your feet.

"Come now doctor, you have to show me where his body is you know. I mean after all, I don't want to waste my time looking around the place all night." Said Gabriel as he snatched up the frightened doctor by the collar of his lab coat and dragged him into the 'meat locker' as those in the trade referred it too morbidly.

"Now doctor, if you please, show me which one he's in?" Gabriel asked

"T-That one over t-there, the f-first one on the l-left." Dr. Fugiwara stuttered as he pointed to the appropriate hatch on the wall.

"Good." Gabriel smiled as he walked over, opened the hatch and pulled out the remains of his fallen brother in arms. Unzipping the black body bag they had him in, Gabriel sighed as he looked down upon him. "Uretil, look at what they have done to you. You were such a fool at times, you remembered to raise your AT Field in your battle with the Third Child and yet you did no such thing when that human was shooting at you with a gun... You never were that bright." Gabriel shook his head as he grabbed Uretil's body and tossed him on the cold, marble tiled floor.

Glancing at the doctor Gabriel gave himself a small grin, "Uh, excuse me doctor, but have you performed any tests on him yet?"

The doctor nodded his head reluctantly.

"Thank you doctor, that's all I needed to hear. I presume that the test results are in your office?"

Again, the doctor nodded reluctantly; sweat trickling down his brow, stinging the open cuts on his face.

"Thank you again doctor, you can go to sleep now." Gabriel grabbed the doctor by the throat and threw him against the wall with a loud, careening "thud," effectively knocking the doctor out cold. After rendering the last living human in the entire building unconscious, Gabriel returned his attention on Uretil.

Pulling him out of the body bag, Gabriel proceeded to unfold his arms and laid them out to both sides of the body, palms facing up, and legs straight in a crucifix position. Reaching under his coat, he withdrew a dagger similar to Uretil's. The blade, etched in Seraphim Runes which read 'Faith is your salvation,' he plunged the dagger deep into Uretil's chest and proceeded to carve it open. After a few seconds, he spotted what he was looking for, his heart, or what the humans would call his S-2 Engine; either way, it was the same thing. He could clearly make out the two bullet holes in it, shaking his head; he grabbed the heart with his left hand and pulled it out of his chest.

Immediately after doing so, Uretil's body caught fire and it began to burn furiously. Gabriel took Uretil's heart and put it in his coat pocket, walking out of the 'meat locker' and back into the doctor's office, Gabriel raised his AT Field and began to destroy every piece of equipment and every document within the place, just as an added measure. He was pretty sure that the fire would eventually spread and burn the building down. But just in case the humans were somehow able to make it here in time and extinguish the fire; well, he wanted to make sure.

Exiting the City Morgue, Gabriel could hear the sirens of police cars down the street making their way to the scene of destruction. Veering his direction to a nearby alley, he laughed as he witnessed the inept humans run into the smoking building looking for survivors. About ten minutes later, a fire engine made its way to the now blazing building and attempted to put out the fire. Entertained for the night, he tilted his head up and ascended to the rooftops and gently soared away.


	11. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

The next morning, Shinji woke up the sounds of Toji's snoring. Looking over at his friend, he saw that Toji was completely oblivious to the world around him as he roared in his sleep and drool trickled from the corner of his mouth. Shinji sighed and decided that if he was up already, he might as well stay up. Kensuke on the other hand was trying his best to block out the horrible noises coming from his friend across the room by putting a pillow over his head and squeezing it to his ears, but to no avail, the sound was able to penetrate anything, and finally in the end Kensuke surrendered to his fate and remained awake.

"Man, how in the world can Toji be so damn loud in his sleep I'll never know." Kensuke complained, "I'm surprised he doesn't wake himself up."

Suddenly there was a loud booming noise, like that of an engine from a back firing car, it was so loud and unexpected that Shinji and Kensuke nearly jumped out of their hospital beds. Toji's snoring even brought the attention of the nurse passing by their room, she ran in half expecting the room to be in shambles due to a bomb explosion or something. However, there was no damage to the room or the occupants, just a couple of heavily annoyed teenagers staring intently at their roommate as he continued to snore loudly in his sleep as if nothing had happened.

"What was that!" shouted the nurse

Kensuke obliged answering her by simply pointing to the drooling, jackhammer across from him and frowned.

"Oh I see, maybe someone should wake him up before he gets security nervous." Stated the nurse

"Could you please, I don't think I can take anymore of sleeping beauty's snoring." Kensuke complained

"Sure." She smiled, and gently started to shake his shoulders, "Mr. Suzuhara... Mr. Suzuhara, it's time to wake up now."

"Mndfielha." Toji garbled, still only half asleep as he very slowly began to crack open his eyes.

"Mr. Suzuhara, it's time to wake up now. You don't want to miss breakfast do you?" She said, hoping that it would get his attention, which it did.

Toji's eyes snapped open immediately, "Breakfast? Where's breakfast?" he yawned as his head whipped from one corner of the room to the other, looking for food.

"It should be delivered to you in about twenty minutes, now you don't want to fall back asleep and miss it do you?" she asked with a slight grin on her face

"Of course not." Said Toji

"Good, then it'll probably be best if you stay awake now okay."

"Okay." He yawned again

"Good, well I got to go on my rounds now." Said the nurse

"Bye." He smiled, Toji stared as the nurse turned and continued with her morning duties. [Hmm, not bad, not bad at all.] He mused. "Man, I don't know about you guys, but I slept like a baby last night... Huh, what? What is it? Do I have drool on my face or something?" Toji asked as the glares from his roommates began to make him feel a little self-conscious.

Needless to say after breakfast they all felt better, even though it was hospital food, the three of them had been starving and they gobbled it down eagerly. Kensuke had a little bit of trouble though; having to eat while lying on his stomach wasn't very easy. Especially when he tried to take a drink from his cup of juice, it kept going into his nose, so the nurse was kind and brought him a little twisty straw that they usually gave to small kids that stayed at the hospital. Kensuke wasn't very amused when Shinji and Toji started laughing at the sight of him slurping his cup of orange juice through a pink and purple twisty straw in the shape of bunny rabbit. But he used it anyway, otherwise he would've probably have to keep trying to drink through his nose.

After breakfast, the doctor from the previous night came in for their morning checkups, "So how are you three young gentlemen feeling this morning?" he asked

"Well, not that bad, considering." Said Toji

"I guess so." Replied the doctor with a small smile. About fifteen minutes later, the doctor concluded that they were all in good health and were ready to receive visitors. "I'll give your parents a call and tell them that they will be able to visit you boys in an hour."

"Thanks doctor we'd really appreciate it." Said Shinji

"Of course." Replied the doctor and walked out of the room.

Kensuke's and Toji's were the very first to arrive, Shinji's parents arrived only a few minutes afterward. Yui immediately ran up to her son, after seeing him lying in that hospital bed, wrapped in all of those bandages and gave him a huge, motherly hug.

"Owe-owe-owe, Mom, my stitches!" Shinji winced

"Oh my God, I'm sorry honey. Are you okay dear?" she asked worriedly

"Yeah mom, don't worry about it. I'll be all right." Shinji smiled

"Yui darling, give the boy some breathing room. He'll be fine, look at him, he's a strong kid." Said Gendo

Shinji smiled at his father's praise of him, but he couldn't shake the memories out of his head, of when he was four years old and his father abandoned him in the cold, pouring rain on the city streets after his mother died. [But that was in another life, and in another time. It doesn't matter anymore because this world, is not that world. My father would never do that to me; he would never abandon me in this world, because he loves me in this world. He's not a monster... Not anymore.] Shinji convinced himself. "Thanks dad." He smiled reluctantly.

Sometime later, Rei, Asuka, and Hikari came by to visit. Hikari went over to talk to Toji while Rei and Asuka went over to Shinji's side. While the parents mingled with each other expressing their concerns about what could have happened and what this world was coming too, Kensuke felt a little left out, but didn't mind the neglect too much.

"Hi Rei, hi Asuka. How are you two feeling?" Shinji asked

"Shouldn't we be the ones asking that question?" Said Rei

"Yeah really, don't worry about us so much. We're doing fine and besides, we're supposed to be the ones worried about you." Asuka stated

Shinji grinned at Asuka's comments, but eventually relented to her logic. "Yeah, you're probably right... Sorry about that."

Asuka sighed, "Shinji there's no need for you to apologize for anything, you're the one that got hurt."

"Oh yeah, sorry." Shinji repeated

"Ugh! There you go again! Stop apologizing already." Asuka stated firmly, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sor... I mean, okay... I'll stop now." He smiled and felt slightly embarrassed.

"Good, now how do you feel?" she asked

"Well, pretty good considering I was sliced and stabbed several times." Shinji joked morbidly

"That wasn't very funny Shinji." Said Rei, in her soft spoken voice.

"Yeah I know, I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit, that's all." He confessed.

"Still... It's good to see that you're doing all right." Rei smiled as she gingerly took Shinji's hand, which was still wrapped in gauze, and placed hers in his.

"Hmm," Shinji wondered, "You know I don't even remember being stabbed in my hands." He said as looked down to where Rei placed her hand in his.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, you're safe now." She said softly and gently stroke his cheek with her other free hand.

Shinji couldn't help but turn slightly red at this, and he even felt his heart skip a beat by her touch. But then suddenly he felt nervous and all of these confusing images and emotions ran through his mind about his relationship with Rei. Was it wrong? Was it right? He just didn't know anymore. Although it was true that in the last world he could clearly remember the dozens if not hundreds of Rei clones in the giant tank, in the Chamber of Gaf, beneath Nerv that Ritsuko had revealed to him; she wasn't a clone here in this world. In the other world Shinji discovered that Rei was a genetic hybrid of his dead mother and of Lilith.

Technically that would make her his sister, wouldn't it? He knew that in that world it did, but she wasn't related to him in any fashion or form in this world, was she? Lilith was Rei's mother and... Well to be quite honest, he didn't know who her father was. But in this world she wasn't a genetic hybrid of anything, she was human, with her own soul, her own desires and wishes, with her own dreams about the future, wasn't she? She still looked the same on the outside, but does that really make a difference? She wasn't created in some test tube in a secret government laboratory in this world like she was in the last. She was born here into the world just like everyone else... Right? Shinji couldn't shake these conflicting feelings about Rei out of his mind as he was suddenly snapped back to reality.

"Shinji?" spoke Rei softly

"Huh? Oh, Rei... I'm sorry I must have spaced out for a moment. I'm sorry." And he heard Asuka sigh with annoyance.

"What were you thinking about?" Rei asked

Shinji gulped at the question, he couldn't possibly tell her the truth of what was really on his mind, so he decided to tell he a little white lie mixed with the truth, maybe that would be enough to convince her. "Well, I was just thinking about something what happened recently, and I don't really know how to feel about it."

"Oh Shinji, I know it was terrifying and painful for you. It was terrifying for everyone, but there's nothing we can do about it now. It's all in the past; none of us can change what happened. It wasn't your fault; and there are some things in life that you just can't control, all we can do is to try to move on with our lives and live them to the fullest." Said Rei.

For some reason, those words seemed to comfort him, but he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he was now experiencing about himself and Rei. What was he going to do? He couldn't just break up with her, he truly liked her very much and he doesn't want to hurt her feelings in any way, but... Just exactly what was she in this world compared to him? Was she somehow related to him in this world like she was in the other, or was she the way that he was hoping she'd be...

Her own complete person with no relation to him what so ever. He just didn't know anymore... [God damn it, why did I have to get all of the damn memories back! Now my life is just more confusing that it was before! And why does it have to be Rei? Why Rei? Of all people that I actually care about, and care about me, why is it that she had to be the one that's a complete paradox! Damn it, why does this have to happen to me!] He cursed himself mentally, but still managed to genuinely smile at Rei as she comforted him.

Seeing Shinji's interaction with Rei caused some pent up feelings within Asuka to surface. She had been thinking about them for the entire last day since Shinji was attacked, and even though she hated to admit it, even to herself, Toji, of all people, had been right about her. Asuka was jealous... She and Shinji had been friends for as long as she could remember, and she hated it whenever he would give his attention to someone else besides her. She had gone out with a lot of boys over the years, but they never meant anything to her, in fact she had never gone out with any of them more than twice, but whenever she was around Shinji, for some reason, she felt content, even happy.

She wouldn't say it of course, however, she had too much pride inside of her to actually let someone know how she really felt about anything that was special to her, even herself. But when she was with Shinji, she liked how she felt. Even though they had never actually been out on a 'date,' she would greatly enjoy the times they spent together just hanging out at the mall, seeing a movie, playing games at the arcade or even just relaxing at home... Either home... And now that Shinji was spending his time with Rei, she felt... Left out...? Ignored...? Lonely, that was it... She felt lonely, and she always hated feeling alone. She missed having Shinji spend time with her, and she felt alone.

"Asuka are you okay?" Shinji asked

Snapping out of her own self-pity, Asuka put on a fake smile on her face declared herself to be fine, more than fine in fact. "Well of course I am! You forget who you're talking too. I was just being quiet so the two of you could catch up, I mean after all you two love birds haven't been able to take your eyes of each other for the last... Well, I don't how long."

As her speech was winding down, the same old doctor walked back into the room and informed everyone that visiting hours was almost up.

"Oh, thank you doctor." Said Yui, "Well Shinji," she said as she turned her attention back to her son. "It looks like we have to go now."

"Okay mom, thanks for looking in on me." He said

"Well of course silly, you're my son why wouldn't I look in on you." She nudged him in the shoulder and kissed him on the cheek.

"We'll see again soon son." Said Gendo

"Thanks dad." He smiled hesitantly, the memories of the atrocities his father committed still fresh in his mind.

As the families and friends of the three boys existed the room, the doctor waited just outside the door, "Um excuse, Mr. and Mrs. Ikari? Can I speak with you for one moment please?"

"Well of course doctor, what is it?" asked Gendo

"Well, I'd rather not speak about it here, can you come with me to my office please?" requested the doctor, noticing the sudden concerned looks on the faces of Shinji's parents.

After they entered the old doctor's office, the gently closed the door shut behind him and started for his desk. "Mr. And Mrs. Ikari, I don't want to alarm you of anything, but I feel that as Shinji's parents that you have the right to know about the current health of your son." He said flatly, he always hated having to start these kinds of conversations, after thirty years of being in the medical profession; they never seemed to get any better.

"Oh my god... What is it doctor, is Shinji sick? What's wrong with him, please doctor you have to tell us..." Yui was almost on the verge of panic, whatever it was the doctor wouldn't insist on seeing them in his office for no reason.

"Yui, calm down, there's no reason to panic right now. I'm sure that the doctor has a very good explanation about why he brought us in here, right doctor?" Gendo's trembled slightly, giving away his own worries about his son.

"Well, it's best that I show you." He said as he pulled out an, what seemed to be, an x-ray and placed it on an illuminated, backlit wall panel behind his desk.

"What is it doctor?" he asked

"Mr. and Mrs. Ikari, when your son was brought in, he was severely injured, with multiple stab wounds in both his hands, his stomach and a serious deep laceration across his chest. We preceded with MRI's, CAT scans and X-Rays when he was brought in after he was placed into surgery to stop his bleeding due to stab wound in his stomach. As we examined his test results after his surgery we discovered this mass right behind his heart." The doctor said as he pointed out the area to which he was referring.

"What is it doctor?" asked Yui, the fear inside her growing

"Honestly we don't know, as far as can tell from all the tests performed on Shinji, it appears to be an extra organ about the size of a baseball. However, as to what function it could possibly perform, we have no idea."

"An extra organ? How is that possible?" Gendo inquired earnestly

"We don't know... Some of my other colleagues have looked over the test results as well, and some of them have concluded that it has to be some sort of tumor previously unrecorded in medical journals." The doctor stated

"Tumor!" Yui shouted. Gendo held her down as she instantly tried to burst out of her seat.

"Honey, please let the doctor talk." Gendo pleaded with his wife

"Mrs. Ikari, as I have said earlier, we're not sure what it is, some of us think that it is a tumor of some kind, and the rest of us believe that it may be an extra organ of some sort. As far as we can tell, it is apparently not serving any viable health function, either positive or negative. It seems to be completely benign. If we try to operate and remove this organ, or tumor, or whatever it may be; we may cause more harm than good and possibly cause major damage to Shinji's health rather than helping him." The doctor explained

"So what do you want us to do doctor?" Yui asked, her eyes now watering with tears as the thought of her son having something in his body that could end up killing him one day, horrified her.

"Well for now, all I am asking you to do is to a keep close eyes on your son after we release him from the hospital and look for any, and I mean ANY sudden changes in his health; and I would also suggest that he be brought in for regular check ups... Just incase... I know that this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it was important that you did."

"Yes... Thank you doctor." Said Gendo solemnly

"I hope there was more I could have told you, but as for right now, we just need to make sure that Shinji stays healthy and out of danger." Said the doctor

"Thank you doctor." Said Yui and Gendo wrapped his arms around her shoulders as they left the doctor's office and headed towards an elevator for the parking lot.


	12. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Dr. Ritsuko Akagi was flipping through the newest data sheets of the orbital 'statue' that came in from Hubble-12 that morning. She couldn't believe what her eyes were reading, [This thing is far more incredible than I could have possibly imagined.] She thought to herself as she made her way to the Commander's office.

Chiming on the intercom to his office, a voice answered from the other side. "Yes"

"It's Dr. Akagi commander, I have something amazing to show you concerning the 'statue.'" She relayed through the speaker

"Oh, by all means doctor, come in." There was a buzzing sound and the door to Commander Ikari's office slid open.

As Ritsuko stepped into his office, she was stunned at how bright it was, usually she could barely see three feet in front of her face, but now she could gaze upon the entire office space. Apparently, Commander Ikari has also been decorating somewhat. There was a huge Persian rug on the tiled floor directly in front of his desk and several brand new couches and sofas outlining it, along with several end tables and a big coffee table in the center. The outlining walls of the office had been painted white, however the ceiling and floor was still black.

"Ritsuko, come in, come in. Tell me what you've got for me." Gendo said cheerfully, happy to be distracted from the stacks of paperwork on his desk.

"Wow, you've been busy I see." Ritsuko commented

"The office? Oh yeah, I had the maintenance crew come in earlier this week and installed some new lighting in the ceiling. You know at first I thought that the only reason why this office was so pitch black before was because it had only one light directly above the desk. After the crew was finished with the lighting I found out that it wasn't just the one light that made it look black, it was because it WAS black. The whole damn room was painted from floor to ceiling in the blackest, black I've ever seen." Gendo said tiredly as he plopped down onto one of the new sofas closest to his desk and reclined lazily. "I swear, I don't think I've ever been so depressed in my entire life after that, all the black paint just seemed to suck the life out of me so I had the maintenance crew come in and paint the walls white, at least that way it'll look brighter when someone walks in."

"Well, you have been busy, with everything that's happened; and it was all in last this week wasn't it?" she asked sitting on the sofa directly opposite of Gendo, placing her data sheets down on the coffee table in front of her.

"Yeah, oh hey did you know that I had a holographic conference table in my office?" he asked

"You do?"

"Yup it's right over there behind you." Gendo pointed

Ritsuko turned to see the table was nearly fifteen feet long with two chairs positioned at each end and three seats on each side.

"Wow, that one of the newer models isn't it?"

"Yup, but I have no idea what I'll ever use it for." He confessed, "The truth is I never even knew it was here to begin with until after the maintenance crew finished installing all the new lights."

"Really?" she asked, raising her eyebrows

"Really... I've even been thinking about putting up some paintings on the walls so it'll look less Spartan than it already does. But the thing is I have absolutely no clue about art, I wouldn't even know if the painting were any good or not." He sighed

Ritsuko laughed at his apparent 'dilemma' and offered to help him out with the wall decorations if he needed any. Gendo gladly took her up on her offer and fell back into the sofa once again, completely content on remaining there for the rest of day.

"Oh I almost forgot, the data from Hubble-12 came in twenty minutes ago about our friend behind the moon." She acknowledged

"Oh yes, tell me what you found!" Gendo's interests suddenly picking up

"Well here, take a look at the first one." Ritsuko said while handing him the first data sheet. "As you can see, the scans took by the satellite are pretty much routine and illustrates everything we already know about it, the height, orbital patterns, etc. But the second data sheet..." Ritsuko stated again while handing Gendo another piece of paper. "This one shows something really interesting." She smiled

"Like what exactly?" Said Gendo as he briefly scanned over the page

"Well, it appears that the 'statue' is anything but, it's not made out of stone. It's been fossilized."

"Fossilized? Are you saying that this thing in orbit around out moon was once alive?" Gendo exclaimed

"Yes sir that is exactly what I'm saying. As you can see by this data sheet, we performed a great number of different scans, radar, x-ray, infrared, the whole nine yards from one end of the spectrum to the other." Ritsuko handed him yet another piece of paper. "As you can clearly see by these scans here, the 'statue' has, or I should say had, internal organs."

Gendo gasped slightly as he stared at the satellite scans, "I can't believe it, there are lungs, a heart, kidneys, intestines, everything that you would find in a human body."

"Exactly." Ritsuko grinned

"What are these two objects here?" He asked as he pointed out the two solid, cylindrical shapes near its spine.

"We don't know yet sir, at the moment they appear to be nothing more than long tubes or pods inserted in its spinal column. But our scans has not yet been able to penetrate them to see what's inside, if anything exists inside them at all." Ritsuko stated

"Amazing, I never imagined this thing would be so..." Gendo was at a loss for words

"Incredible, fascinating, spectacular?" Ritsuko suggested

"Yes exactly, all of those."

She smiled as she gave him the last data sheet, "This last one is interesting as well, if somewhat frustrating."

"What do you mean?" he asked

"Well, it would appear that the statue or creature has some sort of markings on it." She frowned

"Markings?" Gendo's eyebrows raised

"Yes sir, on its forearms and shoulders, however we are unable to tell what they are... For one thing, there's just simply not enough light, considering that it's on the dark side of the moon doesn't help any. Two, the positions of its arms along with that long lance or spear thing or whatever, is completely blocking our line of sight in order to see what they are."

"Hmm, would it do any good if we repositioned the satellite?" he inquired

"I doubt it, at the moment, we won't get a better look at it than what we already have." She sighed.

"Still, this is all very amazing... Good work doctor." Gendo praised

"Thank you sir."

Just then the chime on his office rang again, "Come in!" Gendo shouted.

Sub-Commander Fuyutski stepped in and looked around, wide-eyed with a slight smile on his face. "So Ikari, I see you've been trying your hand at decorating the place."

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"Hmm, you need help." Fuyutski smirked

"Thanks." Gendo said sarcastically

"Well, you do need it, but that's not why I am here." Fuyutski said

"What is it sub-commander?" asked Ritsuko

"We just received this from the Hubble-12 satellite," said Fuyutski as he handed Commander Ikari a data sheet similar to the ones Ritsuko gave him just minutes ago. "It's about the 'statue' creature we've been observing for the last week."

As Gendo Ikari looked over the information on the data sheet Fuyutski gave, his eyes widen slightly and his left eyebrow twitched suddenly. "Fuyutski is this information correct?"

"We've double checked the data that came from the satellite, and from what we've observed so far... Yes it is correct." Said Fuyutski

"What is it?" Ritsuko asked as Gendo gave her the data sheet to look over.

"Well, it seems that our friend up there is moving out of its lunar orbit."

"What!" Ritsuko gasped

"Can we predict it's where it's going?" Gendo inquired

"At this moment I'm afraid not, it's moving so slowly that we never would have even noticed it at all unless we were constantly observing it, fortunately we were. All we can say for now is that its trajectory has been altered, and we are guessing that it is moving out of lunar orbit from the dark side of the moon. However, beyond that, we can't say more." Fuyutski stated flatly as he sat down on a sofa that was at an angle to Gendo and Ritsuko

"Has any other organization detected it yet?" Said Gendo

"No sir, not yet. But if it is moving out of lunar, it won't be long before they do." Stated Ritsuko

"Hmm, Fuyutski, Ritsuko, I don't want anyone else taking credit for our discovery of this thing. See what you can do to make sure that this thing falls under our jurisdiction." Said Gendo

"Yes sir." Replied Ritsuko

"No problem." Fuyutski answered, "And in the mean time, you should probably call in a professional decorator, because your office... it's struggling."

"Ha-ha, very funny." Gendo sneered

"I thought it was." Fuyutski grinned

Gabriel was perched on top of the of the Tokyo-3 news building, which overlooked the entire cityscape straight to the Pacific Ocean. The sun was shining bright and the wind was cool, as he looked upon the city of vermin, he felt sick to his stomach.

[Disgusting creatures.] He thought to himself as his second in command stepped to his side.

"What is it you have to report Azrael?" said Gabriel

"Sir, we have finally located the existence of Adam." Azrael replied

Gabriel turned to his comrade in arms and smiled, "Good, were you able to obtain him?"

"No sir." Azrael replied nervously

"What? Why not?" Gabriel growled

Azrael handed him a large yellow envelope used to mail documents, and stepped back slowly.

"What is this?" said Gabriel as he opened the envelope

"Those are medical reports sir... From Tokyo-3 General Hospital." He answered hesitantly

As Gabriel read the report, he furrowed his brow and began to crush the papers into a large ball and threw it off the Ledge of the building. "DAMN IT! This was something I was not expecting to happen!"

"Yes sir, it appears that Adam has been incorporated somehow with the Third Child... One of my agents was able to steal this report from the office of the doctor who is in charge of his care." Said Azrael

"Does Shinji Ikari know of Adam's existence within him?" Gabriel demanded

"It does not appear so, sir... Should we remove Adam from the Third Child?" Azrael asked tactfully

"No, we cannot risk creating a Third Impact which may lead to our own destruction as well. For some reason, Adam has bonded with the Third Child either by accident during the last Third Impact, or he has chosen to do so of his own free will." He cursed

"Why would Adam choose to do such a thing, he is one of us!" Azrael shouted in disbelief

"I don't know..." he sighed, "It may be possible that he has gone to the other side..."

"Gabriel, do you know what you are saying! This is Adam we're talking about! He would never betray his own kind!" Azrael shouted, forgetting all hierarchal protocol.

"I know, but it may be a possibility that we have to accept for now... At least until we can figure out what exactly is going on with Adam." Gabriel was silent for a long time, pondering and contemplating hard over the sudden change of developments. "Azrael my old friend, it seems that will have no choice but to fall to our alternate plan concerning the Third Child."

"Yes sir, it will seem that will be needing both him and his Evangelion after all." Azrael replied

"Yes it does... This could prove more difficult than previously expected. But never-the-less, it does not change our goals." Gabriel resumed his previous position of overlooking the city as he spoke.

"And what of the other children sir?" Azrael asked

Gabriel smiled, "Our plans for the other children have not changed. You are to stay on schedule concerning them. Has Barbelo received her orders?"

"Yes sir, she is... How can I say? Looking forward to it." Azrael smirked

"I'm sure she is, she can be quite sinister when she wants to be." He smiled

"Yes she can." Azrael laughed at the thought of it.

"What about word from the frontline?"

"Our forces are holding their own against Michael and his army, however we are taking casualties." Said Azrael

"How bad?" Gabriel inquired

"Ofaniel and Eistibus have been slain." Azrael said sadly

"Damn, they were good soldiers and good friends..." Gabriel hung his head low in remembrance of his fallen comrades

"Yes sir, they were... But when we are successful in commencing Third Impact, then none of this will have ever happened, and they will be alive once again."

"Too true Azrael, too true." Gabriel perked up, "Thank you Azrael you have been most informative."

Azrael bowed in respect and left Gabriel on the rooftop of the Tokyo-3 News building. As Gabriel felt the presence of his second in command leave the roof, he clenched his fists so tight that his fingernails began to cut through his flesh and orange blood started to trickles from between his fingers. "Damn you Adam, what the hell were you thinking! Why would you join yourself with that pathetic, weak little human! Have you really betrayed us as Tabris did? Have you actually developed feelings for these grimy, filthy, tailless monkeys!" Gabriel continued to snarl, as his hatred for the human race only grew more intense and wrathful over the possible betrayal of their progenitor.


	13. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Shinji, Kensuke and Toji have been in the hospital for just over a week now, and all three of them were getting bored and restless with it. Toji had received his laser surgery for his damaged eyes a couple of days prior and was now able to see normally again through both eyes. He had the bandages on his cheek and on his brow removed after the surgery and the stitches were still visible but the wound on his face was healing quite nicely. Lunchtime rolled around, the orderlies brought in their food, a small bowl of rice with some pieces of tempura chicken, with a side of salad and a glass of juice. Kensuke was actually getting used to drinking from the multicolored, oddly shape twisty straws; in fact he actually looked forward to it, however he would never admit it seeing as he would never hear the end of it if he did tell his friends. As they were finishing their lunch, they could hear the nurse outside in hall speaking with someone.

"I'm sorry sir, but visiting hours are..." said the nurse as she was interrupted by the man she was speaking to

"That's okay ma'am, we're just here to ask him some questions about his attack." Said the man and flashed a government badge

"Oh, well okay then, he's right in there. They should be almost finished with their lunch." Said the nurse

"Thank you ma'am." Said the man and proceeded to enter the room.

However, as the two people entered the room, Shinji immediately recognized them, and was happy to see them, "Oh, hi Kaji! Hi Misato!" Of course both Kensuke's and Toji's ears twitched with Shinji's rather casual attitude.

"Hello Shinji! Hello Kensuke, Toji!" Misato said cheerfully, as Kensuke's and Toji's noses began to bleed.

"Hello Ms. Katsuragi..." they both slurred at the same time, they couldn't believe it, the hottest teacher in Tokyo-3 was actually visiting them in the hospital.

"So how are you kids feeling? Misato and I would have seen you earlier but I've been real busy and we wanted to see you guys together." Said Kaji as he pulled up a chair and sat at the foot of Shinji's bed.

"That's okay, I'm really surprised to see the two of you show up here." Said Shinji

"Why is that? You know I wouldn't just let one of my favorite students stay here in the hospital without coming for a visit at least once." Misato smiled

Shinji blushed at the Misato's comment and got glares from both Kensuke and Toji.

"Uh, so Ms. Katsuragi... What about Kensuke and me? Aren't we a couple of your favorite students too?" Toji asked obviously annoyed at the attention Shinji was receiving from Misato.

Misato laughed at the question and immediately started to alleviate the other kids worries. "Well of course you two are, the truth is, it's been pretty boring in class without having you three there to do something embarrassing to lighten up my day."

Toji and Kensuke weren't sure if they should've taken that as a compliment or an insult, but were delighted to hear that Misato essentially missed having them in class. Shinji just smiled and noticed a small package; wrapped in brown paper, she was carrying it under arms.

"Uh, Misato, what's that?" he asked casually, pointing to the she was holding. Again Kensuke's and Toji's ears twitched

"Huh? Oh yeah I can't believe I almost forgot." She exclaimed as she presented it to Shinji.

"For me?" he asked stunned

"Mm-Hm... Kaji got it for you, although it might not be what you would expect." Said Misato smiling

As Shinji began to unwrap the paper he wondered what it could possibly be, all the while Toji and Kensuke stared in awe as the hottest teacher in the school gave 'Shinji' a present and didn't bring anything for them. Shinji looked at the small, but long wooden box; it was polished a deep burnt red with a high gloss, and had a small dragon figure carved into the top lid.

"What's in it?" he asked

"Open it up and find out kid." Kaji said, resting his hands behind his head and leaning back slightly in the chair

"Um, Okay..." As Shinji lifted the lid, he spotted the shining glint of metal from within, and as he completely raised the lid open his eyes went wide in surprise when he saw the contents of the box. Slowly grasping the dagger that laid within, Shinji pulled it out and stared at the knife that was once the instrument of his intended death.

"Hey that's the knife that the guy used to try to kill Shinji!" Kensuke shouted

"Yeah, I know it isn't exactly the kind of present someone would expect, especially after being attacked with it and all; but I thought that it would be better off with you that with someone else." Kaji stated, "I mean if anyone deserves to have, it should be you."

"Where...? How did you get this?" Asked a very stunned Shinji

"Well the police originally took it as evidence to the crime for their investigation. But since the guy was dead and his body was destroyed, they pretty much closed the case file and were planning on putting it up on the market at the next police auction. But I used my government credentials and was able to transfer it into my custody before they were able to." Kaji explained while Misato grabbed another chair in the room and placed it near the side of Shinji's bed.

"The body was destroyed? How?"

"Well apparently, some arsonists broke into the Tokyo-3 City Morgue and burned the entire building down. There was nothing left, it appears that the people that worked there were murdered by them before the fire was set. The police have opened up a new investigation into the matter." Said Kaji

"Oh..." said Shinji with sad eyes

"Oh hey, I didn't mean to worry you Shinji; it has nothing to with what happened to you guys. It's a completely different matter."

Shinji faked a smile Kaji tried to cheer him up, knowing full well in his heart that it did indeed had something to do with him. But as to what exactly, he didn't know.

"Thanks..." Shinji gazed at the knife that almost killed him and noticed the strange writing on the blade.

"Oh, the police have no idea what those symbols are. They think it might be some form of ancient Celtic, Druid, maybe even ancient Latin or Aramaic." Kaji tried to point out as he saw Shinji trying to read the symbols.

"Let you heart be your guide..." Shinji mumbled to himself as the bewildered faces of the occupants of the room looked at him in amazement.

"Shinji you can read this?" asked a very puzzled Misato

Snapping back to reality Shinji realized that everyone in the room was staring him at. "Huh? Oh, w-what was that Misato!" Shinji stammered

"You can read this language?" Misato said again

"Uh, oh this!" he pointed to the Runes on the blade, "No, no Misato, I was just mumbling to myself you know! Nothing important, hahahaha!" Shinji face was turning red and sweat beaded at his temples.

"Hmm..." Misato glanced at him, "You know Shinji that's like the fourth time you've called me by my first name. Whatever happened to Ms. Katsuragi?"

Kaji laughed at the now completely embarrassed and befuddled Shinji tried to explain himself at being so casual to his teacher. Kaji didn't mind if he was called by his first name, in fact he preferred it. He never liked titles or being called Mr. Ryoji. But the scene playing out in front of him was comical.

"Uh-uh w-what? W-well, I-I-I-I didn't mean to... I-I mean, that's to s-s- say t-that, I-I uh..." Shinji was now completely embarrassed as Misato sat in her chair. What confused him even more was when she busted out laughing herself along with Kaji.

"Shinji, it's okay. I was only teasing you; you can me Misato if you want to, besides, I think you've earned it. You did survive a horrible attack after all, but in school you still have to call me by my title, okay." Said Misato, not noticing the jaws of her other two students dropping completely to the floor, and their eyes popping out of their heads to the size of basketballs.

"Hehehe... Thanks Misato." Shinji relaxed and smiled

"Oh hey Misato, we got to go if you want to make it back on time." Kaji stated suddenly

"Yeah you're right. I'll see again in school Shinji." Said Misato cheerfully

"S-sure Misato." Shinji stuttered slightly

As the couple were making their way out of the room Misato turned back shortly and waved goodbye to the three boys. "Bye Kensuke, Toji..."

"Goodbye Ms. Katsuragi." The two said simultaneously with happy grins on their faces

"Goodbye Shinji." Misato said and winked at him

"G-goodbye Misato." Said Shinji feeling slightly embarrassed, and watched as Kaji laughed while he wrapped his arm around Misato's waist and left with her from the recovery room.

Instantly his two friends snapped their heads in his direction with odious glares.

"W-what is it?" Shinji nervously said

"WHAT IS IT! What do you mean what is it! The fact that Ms. Katsuragi, the hottest babe, the hottest teacher in the entire Tokyo-3 school district, came here to visit us. Or more in fact, it looked like she came here to visit you! And you throw out all the respect that someone in her position deserves by calling her by her first name; and the fact that she just dismisses it like it was nothing and said that it was okay for you, her STUDENT, to call her by her first name! And she even WINKED at you when she left... WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 'WHAT IS IT?'!" Toji fumed, "JUST WHAT THE HELL EXACTLY IS GOING ON WITH YOU ANYWAY! Huh!"

"N-n-nothing really! There's nothing going on! I swear!" Shinji tried to defended himself, sweat trickling from his forehead

"Oh... This isn't the first time you know, you remember that time when you called her by her first name in class that one day." Kensuke pointed out

"H-hey that was an accident!" Shinji said

"Yeah right! I want to know what's really going on Shinji! Are you having some sort of secret relationship with her! Huh! Answer me!" Toji screamed

"Uh Toji, I'd be careful if I was you. You don't want to pop your stitches do you?" Said Kensuke

"Shut up Kensuke, I want to hear what Shinji has to say! First it was Asuka, then it was Rei, and now it's Ms. Katsuragi, or no wait... 'Misato!' Just who else haven't you seduced yet huh!" Toji shouted

Even though Shinji didn't like where this was going at all, he couldn't resist the opening that Toji provided, and maybe it would allow him to avoid the topic of calling Misato by her first name. "Hmmm, now that you mention it..." said Shinji as he placed a finger on his chin and stared up at the ceiling, as if he was in deep thought.

Kensuke and Toji couldn't believe what they were seeing, was he really planning this all out? Did he really have a secret relationship with Ms. Katsuragi? And was he actually going to tell them what he's been doing all this time and how he was able to claim Asuka, Rei and apparently Ms. Katsuragi for his own?

"You know..." Shinji continued, as the eyes of Toji and Kensuke were fixated on him, "I was thinking about asking Hikari out on a date next week. I mean she's always been very cute, and she's developed quite nicely over the last few years. Maybe she'll..." A raging Toji Suzuhara immediately cut off Shinji, as he attempted to jump out of his bed.

"HEY YOU BASTARD YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER OR I'LL..." Toji instantly stopped in mid-sentence and collapsed back into his bed screaming in pain. "ARGHHH! My chest! I think I popped my stitches!"

Kensuke merely looked at him with disbelieving eyes, "I told you to settle down didn't I? Oh well..." And he reached over on his bed and picked up the medical remote and clicked a button to summon a nurse. Within a few seconds a startled nurse entered the room to find a certain Toji Suzuhara screaming in agonizing pain.

"Oh my god, what happened to him?"

"He popped his stitches on his chest..." Kensuke stated flatly

"Oh no!" exclaimed the nurse, and immediately summoned the doctor. As the doctor and the orderlies with him rushed into the room, the rolled Toji from the recovery room, back in to the operating room to replace his stitches. Shinij could hardly believe what he just witnessed as the hollers of Toji slowly faded away down the hallway.

"Sometimes I think he doesn't have any common sense at all..." Kensuke stated

A week later, Kensuke and Shinji were both able to go back to school. Toji on the other hand had to be kept in the hospital for a few more days because of his little 'outburst.' As the two of them entered classroom 3-B, they both received glances from all the girls in the room. They made Shinji feel a little self conscious, but Kensuke seemed to have enjoyed them a lot. He could hear whispering and giggles from the girls in the class as they kept peeking at him. Looking down he could clearly see the scars from his attack; he could barely make out the scars on the palms and the tops of his hands. Something were odd about them however, instead of a straight scar from a knife blade, they seemed to be circular for some reason. As he sighed to himself, he opened his laptop and messages were instantly being popped up on his screen.

Is it true that you got attacked?

Did you really kill someone?

Did you really get stabbed?

Do you have any cool scars?

Do you want another girlfriend?

Shinji automatically slammed the laptop closed, not out of anger, but more from surprise and shock. He was embarrassed to be receiving messages about his attack, especially the last one. [Do I want ANOTHER girlfriend?] He thought to himself, and then for a second he thought that it might be kind of cool to have two girlfriends at once, the possibilities were endless, but immediately dismissed from his mind. He couldn't do that to Rei, after spending nearly two weeks in the hospital that the Rei he knows now, is not the same Rei he knew from before. They are completely two different people, the Rei from the past no longer existed in this world, in a sense and he decided that he would give his developing relationship with Rei a chance and see where it will go from here.

Cautiously looking around the classroom, he spotted mainly girls looking at him and smiling, his cheeks turned red until he saw Kensuke. He was busily typing away on his laptop. Apparently Kensuke got the same kinds of messages that he did and was eager to brag about what happened. Lost in his own thoughts, a shadow appeared over his desk, and when he looked up to see who it was a smiled materialized on his face.

"Hello Shinji, I'm so glad to see you out of the hospital." Re said cheerfully, as Asuka made her way past her and sat in her own seat.

"Hi Rei, I'm glad too. How have you been doing lately?" He asked happily

"I've been okay, but I've missed you." She said

"I've missed you too." Shinji said, as Rei leaned down and gave him a small peck on his cheek. Blushing now from the public show of affection, he noticed Asuka staring at him from the corner of her eyes, she quickly turned away when he spotted her and Shinji wondered if he had just imagined it. As Rei made it to her seat, Hikari entered the room and barked out her standard commands before starting the school day.

"Stand up! Bow! Sit down!" As usual, everyone did just as she ordered and Misato entered the class as well, ready to start the day. When she spotted Shinji and Kensuke back in class, she smiled warmly and waved. Shinji was again a little embarrasses, but Kensuke soaked it all in for as much as it was worth.

Preparing himself to the day's lesson, he opened his laptop one again, only to find at least another fifteen messages on his screen. Sighing to himself, he lowered the screen and instead took out a notebook and a pen in order to copy down the lesson plans. He really didn't feel like discussing about what happened to him.

"Good morning class!" Misato said cheerfully

"Good morning Ms. Katsuragi!" came a volley of voices, mostly from the love struck guys.

"Now class, before we get started today, I'd like to introduce to you a new student who arrived this morning." She said smiling

Whispers and discussions softly erupted from the class as none of them had heard anything about a new transfer student arriving at the school. As Misato quieted the class down finally, she waved for the student to enter the class. Shinji gasped and his eyes became wide as he stared at the new student, he had white hair, white skin, and crimson red eyes. [No, he couldn't be...] Shinji desperately thought to himself as the horrible memories flashed in his mind. Shinji in his Eva, and holding the fragile figure in his hand while he begged Shinji to kill him, because if he were allowed to live then humanity would die.

"Hello, my name is Kaworu Nagisa. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He smiled

"Okay Kaworu, there's an empty seat right over there, why don't you have a seat." Said Misato

"Thank you very much Ms. Katsuragi." He said and walked over to an empty chair only two seats away from Shinji. As he made his way to the empty chair, Shinji could've have sworn on his life that Kaworu looked at him with recognition and smiled just before he sat down.

Shinji was startled at his action, [That's not possible? Does he know?] Shinji thought to himself as Misato started the morning lessons.


	14. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Shinji was busy writing down the problems on the board that Misato had put up for the students to solve. His fingers were getting tired of writing but he didn't want to read any more of the messages that popped up on his laptop screen. Occasionally he would lift the screen and would find the same things, so he deleted the messages on the computer and lowered the screen once again. Eventually, the lunch bell rang and all the students were running out of class, Shinji however was finishing copying the last few problems on the board when Kensuke strolled up to his desk.

"Hey Shinji, you coming or what man?" he asked

"Huh? Oh yeah I just want to finish writing down these last few problems." Said Shinji

"You know you can copy those down a lot faster on the computer instead of writing down manually." Kensuke pointed out

"Yeah I know but I didn't want to read any of the messages everyone was sending me." Shinji sighed

"Why not man, some of them were pretty juicy." Kensuke stated proudly

"Yeah that's the problem."

Kensuke merely looked at his friend and sighed, "Well, okay man have it your way then, but I'm taking the full opportunity in this matter. Besides I got some cool battle scars to brag about now you know." Kensuke said grinning from ear to ear, "Well I'll see you later at lunch then."

"Yeah, I'll be there." After Kensuke left the room, Shinji was just about to put his notebook and pen away when he heard the little chime on his computer indicating that he had received a message. Confused by this he looked around the class just in time to see someone step out, but he couldn't tell who it was. As he lifted the laptop screen, he was surprised to see who it was from and didn't know exactly how to respond to it.

Shinji, meet me on the roof... Kaworu...

[Kaworu...? What could he want to see me about?] Shinji was afraid to answer his own question, because deep down inside, he was scared that he already knew. Shinji made his way the stairwell that led to the roof and followed it up. Exiting through the door that was at the top, he found himself on the rooftop of the school and at the far end of the roof, leaning on the railing looking down, was Kaworu.

"Hello Kawuro." Shinji spoke hesitantly

Kaworu turned to greet his old friend from the past and smiled, "Hello Shinji, it's been a while hasn't it?"

Shinji was taken aback by his statement, [He knows...], "So y-you know?"

Kaworu laughed at his friend's naivety, "Of course I know Shinji, I remember everything now."

"But how? How are you... Alive? I thought you were..."

"Dead?" Kaworu stated and Shinji nodded. "I was dead, remember? You killed me because I asked you too."

"I thought... But, I mean... How did..." Shinji couldn't place the words he wanted to say.

"Hahahaha! Shinji you haven't changed that much have you?" Kaworu smiled

Shinji blushed slightly and made his way over to the railing next to Kaworu.

"I don't understand; how were you brought back?" Shinji asked

"I was brought back along with everyone else. When you wished for happiness for you and your friends, I was brought back at that moment. It seems that you considered me one of your friends, and for that I'm forever thankful." Kaworu said genuinely

Shinji merely looked down over the railing and looked at the other students running around and carrying along with their normal lives below him. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Saint Paul's Orphanage in Tokyo-2." Kaworu said simply

"An orphanage... I'm sorry..." Shinji said sadly

"Don't be, those were some of the happiest years of my life. They were very good and very kind to me. I cherished every moment I spent with them."

Shinji smiled as Kaworu said how happy he was, "Why did you leave?"

"I had too... It was my time, I had to come here to Tokyo-3 because I knew that you needed me." Kaworu said

"Needed you?" Shinji was confused by his answer

"Yes, the Angels are coming soon, it could be only a matter weeks... Maybe even days, I'm here to protect you in any way possible. Besides, you can't burden yourself with the knowledge of what is going to happen all alone. So I'm here to help." Kaworu said as he turned to look at his friend from so long ago.

"Thank you Kaworu." Said Shinji, and before he knew it, Kaworu took his hand and held it in his. "Kaworu what are you doing?" Said Shinji and took his hand away as fast as he possibly could. Looking around the roof and over the railing to see if anyone noticed what just happened, he breathed a sigh of relief, as it appeared that no one had.

"Hahahaha! I'm sorry if I embarrassed you Shinji; that was not my intention. I was merely looking at your hands."

"Well I get that Kaworu but why?" Shinji asked, and then Kaworu slowly raised his own hands to illustrate that he too had the same scars.

"What the..." Shinji started out saying

"They are the signs of the stigmata, ones who have been blessed by our Heavenly God." Kaworu explained

"Stigmata?"

"Yes, we have both been blessed..." Kaworu's voice trailed off

"Kaworu? What's wrong?" Shinji asked

Kaworu eyes seemed be stare off into space as he again leaned against the railing, "It's just... My sister was the one who blessed me."

"Your sister! I never knew you had a sister!" Shinji exclaimed

"I did, she gave her last moments of life so that I would able to protect you. Because she knew how important you are to humanity." Kaworu stated with deep, sad eyes.

"What happened? I-if you don't mind telling me, that is... I don't mean to pry..." Said Shinji

"No it's... It's alright; I was actually hoping you would ask." Said Kaworu as he replayed that last few days of his life over again in his mind, trying to recant every detail to his friend.

Kaworu was casually walking down the hallway of Saint Paul's Orphanage towards the Nave of the main church located within the orphanage. Along the way he ran into Sister Mary, she was a small woman but very kind with bright green eyes.

"Hello Sister." Kaworu said happily

"Oh hello Kaworu, and how are you doing today?" she smiled

"Oh I'm doing great thank you."

"So have you decided what you're going to do yet?" she asked

"Yeah, I think I'm going to travel abroad for a while you know. I want to see what the world has to offer before I make any permanent plans."

"Well that's understandable, you are still young after all. You are eighteen now, and young people like yourself should see the world and live life to the fullest before they settle down."

"But you're not that much older than I am." Said Kaworu

"I'm old enough." She laughed as a small group of children no older than five or six came running around the corner laughing and screaming.

"Kaworu!" "Sister Mary!" the children screamed out joyfully

"Hello kids!" said Kaworu as he kneeled down and hugged them all. "What are you little rascals doing now?"

"We're playing!" uttered a little girl, "Kaworu! Do want to play with us?" she asked

Kaworu laughed at her cheerfulness, "Maybe later okay kids, I have something I need to do right now."

"Ahh!" they said in unison with a sense of disappointment

"Don't worry children, I'm sure that Kaworu can play with you real soon." Said Sister Mary

"Really!" shouted the kids

"Of course I can." Kaworu smiled

"Okay, remember you promised." Said the little girl

"I know, I won't forget." Kaworu said and kissed her on the forehead, she giggled as they ran off down the hall screaming, laughing, and basically being happy little kids, almost running into Father Hachiro. Father Hachiro was an elderly man; in his late seventy's with gray hair.

"Children, always a source of abundant energy. Oh what it must be like to be young again." He sighed as he reminisced on his own youth and spotted Kaworu and Sister Mary.

"Hello Sister, hello Kaworu." Said the Father

"Hello Father." They both answered

"So Kaworu, what have you decided?" he asked cheerfully

Sister Mary laughed, "I was just talking with Kaworu about that, it appears that he wants to do some traveling first."

Father Hachiro smiled, "Is that so, well that's good."

"Thanks father." And the three of them began walking down the hall

"You know Kaworu, the children are really going to miss you when you leave." Said the Father

"I'm going to miss them too, but they'll get over it eventually."

"Yes we know, we should have a party for you before you leave." Sister Mary suggested

"Oh please, I don't anything special just beca..." Kaworu was cut off

"Nonsense my boy, you're the center of joy for all of them. Once you're gone, we're going to be the ones to handle them. I don't know how you do it, but they seem to listen to you every time." Said the Father

Kaworu was flattered by the praise, "Haha! You just have to know kids that's all."

"Oh my, I almost forgot! I have to go help Sister Aki with the school projects this morning." Sister Mary exclaimed, "Well it was a pleasure speaking with you this morning Kaworu." Sister Mary said before she politely bowed and went in the other direction.

"So Kaworu where are you off to this morning?" asked the Father

"I'm just heading to the Nave."

"To pray?"

"No, just to think. I like it there, it's calming." Said Kaworu

"Well, I wish I could join you but I have duties of my own to attend to this morning."

"I understand, goodbye Father." Said Kaworu respectfully

"Goodbye Kaworu." And the Father walked off towards the direction of the sanctuary.

As Kaworu made it to the Nave of the main church, he looked around and for him it was indeed calming. The candles were lit, the multicolored light shining through the stained-glass windows, and the giant cross that was the center of worship stood proudly at the very front of the Nave at the altar, just behind the podium where the Father would give his sermons. Kaworu took a seat in the second row near the isle and leaned back.

He was thinking about his life in the orphanage, it has been a very happy one for him; he was always loved and protected by people who cared for him and a small smile crept over his lips.

_"Kaworu..."_ came a voice.

Kaworu looked up and answered, "Yes." But as he looked around him, there was no one there.

_"Kaworu..."_ came the voice again

"Hello?" Kaworu stood up this time, confused. But again no one was there and he was alone. "Who's there?" he said

_"Kaworu Nagisa... Tabris..."_

This time Kaworu heard the voice coming from the altar, as he focused his attention from where he heard the voice, he stepped closer.

"Are you kids playing hide and seek or something?" he called out, but there was no answer.

_"Tabris, you are called upon, we need you..."_

"Who said that!" Kaworu was now becoming extremely agitated, he had a bad feeling about this, but suddenly as he came nearer to the altar the cross above him began to glow with a heavenly light. Kawuro was startled, and thought that perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him, and then the light began to glow brighter and unexpectedly, this heavenly light hit Kaworu and everything went black.

As quickly as everything around him went black, his surrounding became a soft white. Kaworu looked around himself frantically, trying to figure out what had just happened to him. And then off in the distance there was a figure of a man walking towards him.

"Hello!" Kaworu called out

"Hello Tabris, or should I say Kaworu? It's been a long time." Said the man, as he became more visible Kaworu was able to make out distinct characteristics. He was tall, with white skin, red eyes, long golden hair and powerful looking. Kaworu couldn't help but feel intimidated by him.

He gulped as he attempted to speak up, "W-who are you?"

"My name is Michael, and I am an Angel."

"An Angel?" Kaworu was shocked, "Am I dead?"

Michael laughed, "No, nothing like that my old friend. But I must speak with you, it is quite urgent."

"Old friend? H-have we m-met before?" Kaworu stammered

"Yes, though not in this life. Come with me, there is something I must show you." Michael said as he extended his hand. Kaworu very hesitantly took his hand and then next thing he knew everything around him changed once again. But what he saw terrified him, right down to his very soul.

"W-where are we? Is this H-h-hell?" Kaworu asked nervously

"No it's not, this is heaven." Michael answered, the hurt inside him evident through his words

"But that's not possible..." Kaworu words softly trailed off as he took in the horrifying scene before him. There were bodies... Thousands of them as far as he could see, many of them were mutilated, decapitated, ripped to shreds, and impaled upon spears. Left to rot away. Blood was spilled everywhere like an ocean, the entire ground beneath him, or he perceived as the ground, was stained a strange color of deep orange and the stench of decay was overpowering. The angelic blood splashed against his feet and he felt sick to his stomach. Kaworu felt the urge to vomit, but he pushed the feeling back down and kept his composure. What he saw was not Heaven; it was a nightmare he could never possibly imagine.

"My God, what happened here?" he said to himself as he dropped his grasp of Michael's hand and slowly took a step forward, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"War... The Archangel Gabriel and his army have proclaimed war against those who love humanity. Gabriel wishes to erase humanity from existence." Michael stated

"But why?"

"Because he, and many of our fellow brothers and sisters feel that humanity was a mistake that should be corrected. By eliminating humanity from existence, he believes that we would once again reclaim our rightful place as God's most beloved creations."

"So he wants to kill us." Kaworu was horrified at what he was listening to.

"Worse, in erasing humanity from all existence, he believes that no one, not the Angels nor even God would have any memory of them. To completely wipe them out from time and space, in all realities." Michael turned to Kaworu to see him trembling. "Kaworu I have called upon you here to help us in our cause to save humanity, and help end this war."

"Me! But what can I possibly do! I'm not an Angel, I'm a human!" Kaworu protested

Michael laughed loudly as Kaworu said those words, "Oh but you are my friend, or you were at least... You just don't remember." Michael's smile slowly faded away, "Come, there is someone who desperately need to see you."

"Who?" Kaworu asked

"Your sister my old friend."

"Sister?" Kaworu gasped, and everything around him once again changed, this time he was in the middle of appeared to him to be some kind of Angelic medical ward, but it was not like anything that was made by humans. No, this had a Divine presence to it... He couldn't even explain to himself what he was seeing; there were simply no words to describe it.

"Metatron how is she?" Michael suddenly stepped away to a nearby Angel who had fallen in battle, apparently. Kaworu followed behind him and looked at the Angel, she was slashed across her entire torso, from her collarbone all the way down to her pelvis. The gaping wound was very deep, and in the center of her open chest, a red orb the size of a baseball was shattered in two, and flickered in brightness from bright to dark. Blood had soaked her skin and she was dying fast.

"She's not doing well... it's only a matter of time before we lose her." Said Metatron, he too had an air of power around him, and had short obsidian colored hair, and bright red eyes.

Michael leaned over the fallen Angel and spoke softly to her, "Talia... Talia can you hear me? I've brought him here..."

Talia slowly opened her eyes and gazed upon Michael with a gentle smile and slowly focused her attention on Kaworu... "Tabris... You're back..." Her voice was weak and raspy.

Kaworu stepped forward, something inside him said that she was important to him, but he didn't know why.

"You don't remember m-me do you?" she asked softly, all Kaworu could do is shake his head no. He didn't know what to say to this young girl, who by all appearances looked exactly like him. "I-I thought you wouldn't..." She coughed fiercely as the red orb inside began to flicker once again and winced in extreme pain.

"Is there anything you can do for her?" Kaworu pleaded, something inside told him that he couldn't lose her, but he still couldn't explain why. He just knew that she meant something to him.

"I am sorry Tabris," spoke Metatron sullenly, "But not even we have the power to treat this kind of injury."

"Tabris... I'm just happy you're back with me... I'm your twin sister Talia..." And again a fit of painful coughing and convulsing followed.

"M-my s-s-s-sister?" Kaworu's eyes began to weep, he had just met this young girl, but he knew that she was telling the truth... That deep feeling inside of him was telling him that was indeed his twin sister.

"T-Talia? P-please... You can't die on me! I just came here, I just met you!" Tears were streaming from his eyes and he could feel his heart breaking.

"Don't cry for me brother, it's my destiny... I love you, and I want to give you something..." Talia winced as she could feel her life slipping away from her. Michael and Metatron slowly stepped away from the two siblings in order for Talia to do what she needed to do.

"W-what is it?" Kaworu asked

"Give me your hands brother..." He did as she asked. Talia took her brother's hands and slowly they began to glow with a blissful, orange colored light. Talia's red orb began to shine brightly as she put forth all her will into this last final act. Suddenly, Kaworu's body lurched back and his body was illuminated in this bright orange light, he could feel his sister's powers, his sister's soul merging with his to become one.

Distant memories of a life that he's never led came rushing forth into the forefront of his mind like a tidal wave crashing onto the rocks of a Cliffside. His part in Third Impact, his friendship with Shinji Ikari the Third Child, and his choice to die by his hands. He chose to die because of his connection with Shinji, Shinji made his life on Earth have meaning, because if he were allowed to live then Humanity would die. Kaworu couldn't let Shinji die, because he had cared for him, Shinji was his friend; so he begged Shinji to kill him. Within the grasps of Shinji's Evangelion, he could feel his friend's fragile heart breaking as he knew that he had no choice, because if he didn't then everyone on Earth would die, and then everything went black.

The light around Kaworu faded away and as he slowly leaned forward, his hands were bleeding from the palms and from the back... Talia was gone... Or more correctly, Talia was within him now. Kaworu stood to his feet and made his way over to Michael.

"She died for me..." The tears still fresh on his cheeks.

"Yes she did, you're one of us again." Said Michael, placing a hand on Kaworu's shoulder.

"Shinji is in danger isn't he?" he asked, never looking up to meet his gaze.

"Yes he is, sooner or later Gabriel may attempt to eliminate Shinji Ikari, and you must protect him. He is the key to saving humanity."

"Just like before..." Kaworu spoke sadly

"Yes, it is unfair... But that is his destiny, as it was before, so it is again."

"I understand... Take me back now, I... I-I don't want to be here..." Kaworu said with a lump in his throat, and then everything went white again, and then black. Kaworu slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on the floor of the church with Sister Mary and Father Hachiro looking down upon him with worried faces.

"Kaworu, are you okay?" asked a very concerned Sister Mary

"Yes, I think so... How long have I been out?" he asked

"Almost twenty minutes." Replied Father Hachiro, "The children found you not to long ago and became frightened, they came to us and told us you were hurt. What happened?"

"I-I was standing here, and then a bright flash of light hit me, and then the next thing I knew, the two of you were looking down at me." Said Kaworu, he chose to leave out what really happened to him afraid that he would scare them even more.

"Well, you look like you've cut your hands on something, we should go get them wrapped up before they get infected." Said Sister Mary as she and the Father helped Kaworu to his feet. Looking down at his hands, he saw the signs of the stigmata created from when Talia gave her soul to him. The next day he announced that he was leaving the orphanage, he told them that he had something important that he needed to do and he couldn't do it here. They stared at him and saw the look in his eyes, they could tell that he didn't want to leave the only home he has ever known so soon, but he had to. Whatever it was that happened to him in the Nave of the church had changed him, so they graciously gave him their best of wishes and sadly let him go on his way.

Before he left however, the children gave him a small doll that looked like him. When they heard that he was leaving they were extremely upset and sad, but they wanted to make something for him before he was gone, and Sister Mary had helped them in making the doll. Kaworu laughed solemnly and gave them all big hugs before he stepped out the doors of Saint Paul's Orphanage. Probably never to come back, and from there he made his way to the train station in Tokyo-2 and set forth to his new mission in life in Tokyo-3.

"... And then I registered for school a few days ago, but decided not to actually attend until you were released from the hospital." Said Kaworu

Shinji looked sad by his tale and didn't know what to say, "Kaworu I... I..."

"You don't have to say anything Shinji, it's quite alright. Talia chose to give up her life for me and now I have the power to protect you from Gabriel and his Angels." As the two old friends looked down over the railing the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

"Oh no, we've been up here the entire lunch period!" Shinji exclaimed

"Haha! It would appear so." Kaworu smiled

"Well come on we need to get to class before the bell rings again and we're late! Kensuke is going to be pretty upset that I didn't meet him at lunch." Shinji said as they quickly made their way to the rooftop entrance.

"He'll get over it." Said Kaworu as he opened the door

"Kaworu..." Said Shinji

"Yes."

"I'm glad you're back." Shinji smiled

"So am I." Kaworu smiled back and the two of them ran down the stairs to class.


	15. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Gabriel was standing on top of the water of Tokugawa Lake, a very small manmade lake in the center of Tokyo-3 Recreational Park. Looking up at the night sky, he marveled at the beauty of the full moon and its reflection shimmered on top of the water's surface. The slight splashing sounds of footfalls on the water caught his attention as he looked ahead and spotted Azrael coming near.

"Beautiful night isn't it?" Said Gabriel

"Indeed it is." Replied Azrael

"What news of the Second Regiment?" Gabriel inquired

"They broke through the lines of Michael's Third Infantry, but are now meeting heavy resistance and are being pushed back by his First and Fourth Brigades." Azrael reported

"What are the casualties?"

"Michael's Third Infantry lost nearly forty percent during the first volley, however we are nearly at a fifty percent casualty rate due to the First and Fourth Brigades."

"Tell the Seventh Company to provide support for the Second Regiment, and coordinate efforts with the Twelfth and Fifteenth Divisions to out flank Michael's Ninth and Tenth." Gabriel ordered

"Yes sir... There is something else as well." Said Azrael

"Oh and what is that?" Gabriel inquired

"It would seem that Tabris has returned to Tokyo-3." Azrael stated

"Has he now... Well that is not to be unexpected, no doubt that Michael has recruited him in order to protect the Third Child, considering his history with him. It was only a matter of time." Said Gabriel

"That's what I thought as well, it's also reasonable to assume that Michael has blessed him with Angelic powers in order to do so, seeing how he was reborn in this world as a human."

"Yes, I agree... However, this doesn't change matters. The plan will still go as scheduled."

"Yes sir." Azrael grinned

"So is Barbelo ready for her mission?" Gabriel asked

"Always..." Azrael replied

"Good, tell her to execute the plan tonight... Oh yes, tell her to have fun with it if she wishes, but not too much fun of course. We don't want the Second Child to die, just paranoid and unstable. No 'physical' harm is to come to her." Gabriel stated, emphasizing the word physical.

"I'll tell her right away." Azrael smiled and floated away high into the night sky.

Asuka had been unusually quiet during dinner, most of the time she would be talking about her day at school or what she did at the mall with her friends but tonight she was silent. She just sat there at the dinner table quietly eating her food, her eyes looked distant and unfocused as if she were troubled by something. Kyohko and Alexander were very concerned about their daughter.

"Asuka honey, is everything okay?" Kyohko asked worriedly

"Huh?" Asuka snapped back to reality from her own thoughts. "Oh yeah, everything is okay mama." She said rather unconvincingly

"Asuka honey if something is troubling you, you know you can come to us about it right?" Said Alexander trying to console his daughter

"I know papa but..." Asuka sighed, "I just don't feel like talking about it right now."

"Well okay Asuka, if you're sure about it?" said Kyohko

"I'm sure mama... I just need to find a way to deal with this on my own." Said Asuka

"Okay honey, but just remember that if you need us we'll be right here at anytime." Kyohko stated

"I know mama..." Asuka smiled and got up to put her plate away in the sink.

"No don't worry about it dear, I'll take care of it for you." Said Alexander

"Thanks papa, I think I'm going to take a shower and go to bed." Said Asuka

"Okay honey if that's what you want..." Alexander said with concern

"Thanks papa." Asuka kissed her parents on their cheeks and headed towards the bathroom and started the shower.

"Kyohko dear, I'm starting to worry about her, she's been depressed like that for a while now." Alexander said to his wife

"I know, so am I dear... I'm worried about her too..." Kyohko sighed heavily

Asuka stood there in the shower silently as the hot water rained down over her body. It was soothing and she could feel her muscles relax, but no matter how much she tried not to think about it, the image of Rei and Shinji kept appearing in her mind. Images of those two holding hands at the hospital and of when Rei kissed Shinji on his cheek at school, what bothered her the most was not Rei but Shinji. It was his reactions to Rei whenever she was near him, which was what got to her. He looked genuinely happy when he was with Rei, but not with her, and she felt an emptiness in her heart. He was always kind to her, even if he did act like a bit of a pervert sometimes.

There have been times when she could remember being mean to Shinji and would slap him when he didn't even deserve it. But that was so long ago and they were much younger then, they were just young kids and she could have never foreseen that her feelings for him would have grown this way right under her nose, and not even recognize it. With a deep and heavy sigh, Asuka slowly turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Grabbing a towel, she started to dry herself off when she heard a terrible noise from outside the bathroom. She immediately wrapped the towel around herself and ran out into the hallway to hear an ear piercing, blood-curdling scream coming from her parent's bedroom.

Asuka ran to the door of her parent's bedroom only to have it slammed open and her mother running out in horror, covered in blood.

"ASUKA RUN!" screamed her mother with total abject fear in her eyes, grabbing Asuka by her shoulders and forced her in the other direction.

"MAMA WHAT'S WR..." Asuka's sentence was cut dreadfully short her father's body crashed heavily into the wall and slid to the floor just inside the hall outside their room. His body was slashed and mutilated from head to toe and completely covered in blood. His cold, dead eyes stared up from the floor at Asuka.

"P-P-P-APA!" Asuka screamed in horror

"ASUKA WE HAVE TO RUN!" Kyohko screamed, pulling her daughter with all her strength to the front door in an attempt to make an escape.

Asuka and Kyohko ran for their lives to reach the front door and escape the house, however their escape path was thwarted when Alexander's body flew over their heads and collided with the door just as they were about to reach it. His bloody corpse splattered and he fell like a rag doll, Asuka could only stare in terror as blood drained from her father's body into a giant pool.

"ASUKA W-ARGGHH!" Her mother screamed out

Asuka turned to her mother just as a knife blade penetrated her chest and sprayed blood on Asuka's face. Shaking and trembling with fear, she backed away as the blade was retracted from her mother's body and fell to the floor. Kyohko tried to speak, but the only sounds that left her mouth were bloody gurgles as her head was suddenly seized and pulled upward by her hair. Asuka was so terrified that she couldn't even scream as she witnessed her mother's murder. A woman dressed in black with a long black leather coat, with pale white skin, short black hair and dark sunglasses pulled her helpless mother to her knees. Kyohko was trying desperately to speak to Asuka, wanting to tell her to run away, but nothing came out as she reached for her daughter, and then blackness. Asuka was completely frozen in place as her mother was beheaded in front of her own eyes.

Barbelo lifted the decapitated head of the Second Child's mother to her face and smiled as the color was instantly drained from the remains and the eyes sunk deep into the back of the skull. Tossing it at the feet of the Second Child, Barbelo was pleased with her work and stepped closer.

Her mother's head was suddenly thrown down at her feet and Asuka felt dizzy as if she were about to pass out and like she would vomit at any moment. But then a shadow slowly crossed her path and Asuka's eyes snapped up from the decapitated form of her mother, to the woman in black who murdered her family. Asuka's motor functions wouldn't work as she urgently tried to move her legs in order to run away, but they just wouldn't move, she was to terrified to move. Her body just kept trembling as the woman stepped closer.

"Greetings... Asuka Langley Soryu." Barbelo spoke in a cold, malevolent tone

Asuka was finally able to make one of legs move backwards as she attempted to get away from her parent's murderer, however as she stepped away, Asuka bumped into the coffee table right behind her and tripped on the floor flat on her back. Quickly regaining her focus on the woman who was now standing directly above her, she could see the dagger she held in her right hand, soaked with blood. Asuka's eyes became wide as Barbelo slowly began to kneel next to her, lifting the dagger close to her face.

She tried to scurry away, like a frightened rat, however her futile escape came to an abrupt stop as Barbelo jumped on top of Asuka, forcing her back to the floor, straddling the petrified redhead between her legs.

"Now, now, now, that's no way to be polite. You should be nicer to your house guest." Barbelo smiled wickedly.

Asuka could only stare in horror, as she still didn't have the ability to scream. [Please... Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Don't kill me...] She kept screaming to herself in her own mind, but nothing would come out, no matter how frantically she tried to scream it at the top of her lungs.

"Oh my," Barbelo faked gasping, "You have blood on your pretty little face... We should really clean it off." She grabbed the towel that was still wrapped around Asuka's body and yanked it off with one quick pull and started to roughly wipe the blood off from Asuka's face. There doesn't that feel better? I know you look better." She said as she tossed the towel away.

Asuka, lying naked on the floor with this murdering bitch on top of her, felt humiliated and completely helpless. Her life was in the hands of the woman who viciously killed her mother and father, and she knew it. Asuka began to cry as she felt the warm, wet blade against her throat.

Barbelo lowered her face only a mere few inches away from Asuka's and proceeded to speak softly to her, "Now, now, please don't cry Asuka... It takes all the fun out of it."

"P-p-ple-e-ease... D-d-d-don't kill m-me..." Asuka finally pleaded as she felt the pressure from the knife get heavy against her throat.

"What was that? I don't think I quite heard that?" Barbelo smirked

"Please, don't kill me... I don't want to die..." Asuka whimpered

"So you can speak after all." Barbelo smiled, "Well good for you, and don't worry, I won't kill you... I have other plans for you little one." She said on pressed her lips against Asuka's.

Asuka snapped her eyes shut tightly and attempted to move her face away, but she wasn't able to as the knife blade on her neck made any slight movement impossible. She could feel her mouth being forced open and Barbelo's tongue plunging its way into Asuka mouth. After several minutes of this Barbelo finally broke her kiss and allowed her victim to breathe. Coughing and gasping for air, Asuka could feel Barbelo's free hand slide down her naked, vulnerable body. Her hands slowly slid down across Asuka's right breast, down the center of her well-toned stomach, and then, eventually, down between her legs.

"N-no!" She screamed; closing her legs tight and tried to urgently struggle free away from Barbelo.

However it was to no avail as Barbelo simply pushed Asuka back down to the floor with a mighty thrust that caused Asuka to get the wind knocked out of her. Barbelo then slowly lowered her face to Asuka's once again, "Now that wasn't nice... Was it?" she smiled

"Please..." Asuka cried, "Don't... Don't do this please..."

"Why shouldn't I? I said I wasn't going to kill you, but I also said that I was going to have fun too... Didn't I?" Barbelo giggled as she slowly slid her fingers deeper inside Asuka. Blood began to run down her fingers and she smiled. "Oh my! A virgin I see… How sweet of you to save yourself for me." She mocked and forced her fingers even deeper inside her, with more force and brutality than before causing Asuka to scream out in pain. But just then, a horde of blue and red lights flashed through the windows from outside as sirens could be heard racing down the street. "Damn it... Well I guess you are a very lucky little girl Asuka Langley Soryu... Tootles." Barbelo smiled and immediately jumped off Asuka and ran to the back of the house just as the police broke down the door and found the bodies of Asuka's dead parents on the floor, and Asuka... Curled up naked on the floor, trembling violently and crying her soul out.

"Oh my God... Who would do something like this?" One of the lead police officers said to himself as he immediately made his way to Asuka's side and grabbed the nearby towel to cover her up. "Search the house! Now!" he shouted, and several more police officers entered the house with guns drawn. One of them spotted the bodies on the floor and ran back outside, vomiting the contents of his stomach on the front lawn, while the others cautiously ran through the house. Going from room to room, searching for the one who did this.

"There's no one here sir!" one of the police officers shouted out from the back

"Take the dogs and search the neighborhood, we have to find the bastard who did this!" He shouted out as the paramedics came to Asuka's side and looked over her.

"Yes sir!" they responded and proceeded to take the dogs round back of the house and started on foot to search out the local neighborhood.

"So how is she doc?" asked the lead police officer

"There seems to be no physical injuries, but we have to take her to the hospital immediately just to make sure there isn't anything internal." He replied and wrapped a large blanket around her as was gently placed on a gurney and taken to the ambulance. By this time Asuka had stopped crying and was now in a complete state of shock, the paramedics said that she was in a catatonic state as they left the Soryu Residence towards the hospital.

"Well can you blame her, she just witnessed her parents being murdered in front of her own eyes." Stated the other medic in the back of the ambulance

"I know, but this is not good. Not good at all, there's no telling the amount of mental damage that was caused, we have to get her to the hospital now!" he shouted to the driver, and there was a sudden jump in speed as the ambulance wailed its sirens and was now barreling down the street at over 100 mph.

Tokyo-3 General Hospital, the rooftop, Azrael was standing on the railing with perfect balance as Asuka's ambulance roared into the emergency entrance parking lot. The medics frantically opened the back of the ambulance and rolled out a catatonic Asuka Langley Soryu and immediately proceeded to take her inside. Lightly laughing to himself, he noticed a dark figure descend next to him on the railing and turned.

"It appears that you do your job well Barbelo, I'm impressed. I never knew you could be so... Sadistic." Azrael praised

"Thank you very much Azrael, coming from an Angel such as yourself, that's a great compliment." She smiled

"So did you have... Fun with her?" he asked, just slightly raising an eyebrow

Barbelo removed her sunglasses to reveal her crimson red eyes and stared back into his. Moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulder, "Jealous?" she said softly

"Not at all." He replied as they both brought their lips together in a passionate kiss that lasted for several minutes. "You do enjoy your work don't you?"

"Of course I do, but I like what I do after work even more." And flashed a sinful smile across her face.


	16. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Shinji and Gendo were sitting in the living watching a very funny movie on the Comedy Network on TV while Yui was in the kitchen, washing up the dishes. A commercial aired and Shinji decided to get up and grab himself something to drink from the fridge, just as he was making his way to the kitchen the phone rang.

"I got it." Said Shinji and picked of the receiver. "Hello...? Yes this is the Ikari residence... Yes we know the Soryu's, who is this...? Tokyo-3 Hospital?"

At this statement, Yui shut off the water and Gendo lowered the volume on the TV set and they made their way closer to Shinji.

"What is it Shinji?" said Yui but got no response, instead she saw the look on her son's face grow frightened, his skin seem to pale and his eyes became wide and water up with tears.

"Yes... Yes we'll be there as soon as we can!" he shouted into the receiver and immediately slammed it back on the counter, knocking it the floor.

"Shinji what is it son!" Gendo asked highly concerned

"It's Asuka, she's in the hospital..." Shinji spoke, forcing the words up pass his throat as he could feel a lump forming, trying to hold back the tears that were forming. "Her... Her parents were... Th-they were..." Shinji's voice trailed off.

"Shinji please what is it? What happened to Asuka?" Yui shouted

"Asuka's parents were, w-were mu-murdered earlier tonight..." His eyes were closed and his head was cast down. Gendo and Yui gasped loudly as they heard Shinji's words.

"What about Asuka?" Yui asked again grabbing her son's shoulders, breaking into tears.

"She's in the hospital, but the doctor said she wasn't injured in the attacked... But she's not responding to anything... We were on their emergency contact list and they want us down there right away."

"Okay, Yui grab the keys and everyone put on your shoes, we're going down there right now!" Gendo shouted as he grabbed his jacket and instantly slipped on his shoes and ran out the door, followed by Yui and Shinji.

Kaworu was standing on the roof of his apartment complex, which was located only three blocks away from the Ikari residence. He had rented a room on the top floor so it would be much easier for him to fly out in case of an emergency. At full speed he would be able to arrive at Shinji's side in a matter of seconds. From his position on the rooftop, he had a direct line of sight into the Ikari's front yard. A cold wind blew and Kaworu shivered; zipping up his brown suede jacket, he kept a vigilant watch on Shinji's house. Ready for anything that might occur, he reached behind underneath his jacket and ran his fingers over the handle of his dagger; just to reassure himself it was still there. A gift from Michael...

The night before he left the orphanage, Michael came to his room. He was dressed in a long gray coat, jeans and tanned, suede boots.

"Michael! I wasn't expecting to see you again!" Kaworu exclaimed

"I'm here to give you something." Said Michael as he reached underneath his coat and pulled out a parcel wrapped in red cloth. As Kaworu unwrapped the cloth, he gazed at the gift given to him. It was the holy dagger that once belonged to his sister, Talia... Kaworu's eyes teared up as he grabbed the handle and raised it closer to his face. The long silver blade was etched in Seraphim Runes that read "Real strength is through mercy." It had a gold trimmed hilt and pommel, and it was adorned with shimmering lavender sapphires.

"She would've wanted you to have it, especially now..." Michael said sadly

"Thank you Michael." Said Kaworu...

Coming out of his own thoughts back to the present, with his Angelic eyes, he spotted the entire Ikari household running out of their home, into their car and were then speeding off quickly down the street. Kaworu instantly flew into the air and followed the Ikari family.

Twelve minutes later they reached the hospital, spilling out of the car, they ran into the emergency entrance. Running up to the front reception desk, Shinji immediately hollered for the nurse... "We're here to see Asuka Langley Soryu!"

"Oh yes, you must be the Ikari's. I'll call for the doctor right away." Said the nurse as she picked up the phone and paged for the doctor in question. "The doctor should be here any minute." Stated the nurse.

"Thank you, come on Shinji we should sit down and wait for the doctor." Said Yui as she led Shinji to the waiting room. A few minutes later the doctor came into the waiting room, coincidently it was the same old doctor that treated Shinji all those weeks ago.

"Mr. and Mrs. Ikari, please follow me." He said leading them to the elevator.

"How is she doctor?" Shinji quickly spoke up as he walked past his parents and walked beside the doctor

"Well Shinji, that's what I wanted to talk to all of you about." The elevator door opened and they all stepped in. Pushing the button to the fourth floor the doctor started to explain the situation in full. "From what the police has told me, Mr. And Mrs. Soryu were brutally murdered, some maniac broke into their house and stabbed Mr. Soryu to death." As he was explaining this, Shinji merely lowered his head and fell into silence while Gendo and Yui had expressions of anger, mixed with sadness and horror all into one. "Apparently it seems that Asuka was taking a shower while this was happening and when she ran out of the shower, Mrs. Soryu tried to take Asuka out of the house and escape. However, she was stabbed in the back and beheaded."

"Beheaded!" Yui gasped

"Yes... Asuka witnessed everything..." The doctor paused for a moment and sighed as the door opened and they stepped out towards Asuka's room. "It looked as if the murder forced Asuka to the floor and attempted to rape her..." Shinji, who heard that his best friend was almost raped, immediately cut off the doctor.

"Raped! Is she okay! I mean is she..." The look of fear in his eyes was overpowering, however the doctor cut him off in mid-sentence and continued to explain

"She's fine, it looked like the police were able to get there just in time before anything actually took place. However, when we took our initial tests, just to be on the safe side, it does appear that Asuka has received some internal vaginal scarring."

Shinji nearly broke down into tears hearing this, so did Yui, but she held her son tight to her and told him that everything would be okay. She was alive and that's all that mattered now.

"Doctor how is she now?" asked Gendo as they made their way around a corner at the end of the hall.

"Frankly... I don't know. She's in a catatonic state, completely non- responsive to external stimuli." He stated

"You mean, she's in a coma?" Yui asked

"No, a coma is the result of a severe brain trauma; usually caused by an accident. Asuka has received no physical brain trauma was so ever, except for a mild concussion. But that is not enough for the condition she is in right now... No, this is because of severe emotional trauma, undoubtedly witnessing her parents' murder... Poor girl, she has been through so much tonight." The doctor said sadly as they reached her room marked 423, "She's in here, Shinji you can go inside and see her while I talk to your parents outside okay."

"Okay doctor..." Shinji replied solemnly as he slowly opened the door to Asuka's room and stepped inside.

"What is it doctor?" asked Gendo

"Well, it's concerning Asuka's immediate future... According to our records, she has no other family; the Soryus' family lawyer contacted the medical staff here after the police informed him of what had just occurred. Apparently, the Soryus' had the two you listed as Asuka's guardians in their will should anything happen to them before Asuka was able to graduate from high school." The doctor informed them

"Yes, that's correct... I remember talking to them about something like this years ago when the children were only four years old but..." Yui's voice trailed off

"But we never actually expected to fulfill that promise... And truthfully neither of us had wished too..." Gendo finished Yui's sentence as his wife began to weep onto his shoulders.

"It's quite understandable. No one would want to actually fullfil a promise like that. Well, even though she is eighteen and legally an adult, she is still in her last year of high school and well..." The doctor's voice became silent as he didn't really know what else to say about the situation.

"Don't worry doctor, we'll take Asuka home with us as soon as we can. We have an extra bedroom in our house that we have as a guest room, we'll just move in all of Asuka's stuff into it." Said Yui

"There's also the matter of the Soryu's estate, however, I think that their lawyer would be much better equipped to talk about it when he arrives, which should in about fifteen minutes or so." Said the doctor

"Of course, we understand." Said Gendo

"Well, I should probably leave you alone with Asuka now... If you need anything, just let one of the nurses know."

"Thank you doctor." Said Yui

As Shinji slowly opened and stepped inside Asuka's room, he saw her lying on the medical bed, with machines attached to her and an empty vacant look in her eyes. A cold chill ran down his spine as he remembered all too well what happened before. Taking a chair that was set in the corner of the room, he set it down quietly and started talking to Asuka.

"Asuka... It's me Shinji... Can you hear me, because I hope you can? I'm right here right next to you..." Shinji spoke quietly, but no response came from her. She merely laid there, staring at the ceiling. "No... No, no, no, no this can't be happening again, not to you... Asuka please wake up... Please Asuka, I'm begging you please wake up... Look at me please!" Shinji pleaded with her, tears running down his face as he did so. "Asuka, please... I need you to wake up; I need you Asuka... I need you in my life... Asuka please wake up..." Shinji voice trailed off as he finally broke down and started to cry heavily. He felt like his world was crashing down around him; he let her down. He should've been there to protect her and he wasn't. He failed her... Again... He knew that the Angels were coming back and he should've been there to protect her, but he wasn't... They had obviously hurt her to get to him... She was here because of him; it was his fault...

As Shinji sat there crying into his open hands, Yui and Gendo slowly opened the door to see their son, distraught and in pain over what happened to his best childhood friend, so they decided that it would be best to leave him alone with her for the time being and quietly exited the room. Making their way to the fourth floor lobby area, they told the front desk that when the Soryu's lawyer arrived, that he should meet them there. As they made it to the lobby, they passed by an odd looking teenage boy, about Shinji's age with white skin and white hair, but paid him no mind as their thoughts were elsewhere.

Kaworu slowly opened the door to room 423 to find his friend grieving. Walking up behind Shinji, he placed a hand on his shoulder in remorse. Startled by the sudden contact, he jumped in his seat.

"Kaworu!" Shinji exclaimed

"Shinji... How is she?" Kaworu asked

"Not good, the doctor says there's no telling how long she will stay like this." He said while wiping away the tears from his eyes. "It's happening all over again... My friends are being hurt because of me. It's all my fault." Shinji sobbed.

"It is not your fault Shinji, don't ever blame yourself for this. What happened to Asuka was not your doing." Kaworu explained

"But..."

"No buts Shinji..." Kaworu sighed, "You didn't do this to her Shinji. Gabriel and his Angels are the ones responsible for this, not you."

"I wasn't there for her... I should've been there to protect her."

"Shinji, there's no way you could've known that this would happen..."

"What am I going to do...?" Shinji sobbed

"Wait... Pray... Whatever it is that you would normally do at a time like this. Asuka will come back to you Shinji... She will wake up again, just as she did before." Said Kaworu

"That's what I'm afraid of, when she woke up the last time, she wasn't..." Shinji choked on the words as he clearly remembered everything that happened before like it was yesterday, "All there... I mean she was but, not completely. She'd gone somewhat insane the last time."

"It won't be like that Shinji, she'll be fine... Just trust in her, she's a very strong individual. She always has been."

"But what if she doesn't wake up this time." Shinji feared

"She will Shinji, she will... Just believe in her." Said Kaworu as he once again placed his hand on Shinji's shoulder.

"Thank you Kaworu."

"No thanks is required Shinji, I am your friend and I will always be here to guide you."

"Yeah well... Thanks anyway." Said Shinji as a faint smile slowly appeared on his face

"So the mission was successful I presume?" said Gabriel

"Completely sir." Responded Barbelo as she and Azrael descended from the sky.

"Good... Did you have 'fun'?" Gabriel smiled

"Yes sir... Very." She smiled sinfully

"Well that's always good to hear." He smirked as he turned to face his two subordinate Angels. "And... What about you 'two'? Have any fun for yourselves afterwards?" He asked. The silent smiles from Barbelo and Azrael were all that he needed to answer his questions. "I see, hehehe..." He chuckled to himself

"So the Second Child has been dealt with appropriately then?"

"Of course sir, she was admitted to the hospital a few hours ago." Barbelo replied

"And the Third Child? How is he taking all of this?" Gabriel inquired

"From what we've been able to tell, he's taking it quite hard sir. However, we cannot be completely certain just how deep his suffering really is because of Tabris. He's keeping a close watch over the Third Child as we speak." Responded Azrael

"Tabris... Yes, it's to be expected." Gabriel said flatly

"We should kill the traitor!" shouted Barbelo

"Easy Barbelo, easy... Tabris will be handled all in due time. It is too soon to act against Tabris right now... We must bide our time when it comes to our former brother in arms. But trust me, when the time comes, he'll get what he rightfully deserves... A traitor's death." Gabriel smirked

"Yes sir." She replied

"Do we have our volunteers?"

"Yes sir." Azrael answered

"Are they aware of the risks involved?"

"Yes sir, they've all been briefed and are more than willing to make the sacrifices needed for the greater good." Stated Azrael proudly

"Excellent... First we must gage the Third Child effectiveness in battle, inform Ambriel and Jariel for their mission... The attack on this city begins tomorrow." Gabriel Commanded

"Right away sir."

Early next morning, Gendo was sitting behind the command console on the command deck of Gehirn looking over the latest reports of the fossilized creature making its way out of lunar orbit. Several of the international space and science research organizations have tried to claim jurisdiction over it, however the UN had over ride them all leaving full jurisdiction with Gehirn; seeing as they were the first to make the discovery. But Gendo wasn't really interested in the reports of the creature; his mind was still on the events of last night. The Soryu's lawyer had met them at the hospital going over all the legalities of the Soryu's estate and so on. He was dressed extremely casual, however seeing that it was nearly half past midnight when he arrived, it didn't really matter. They were all distraught over what happened. Asuka was to be legally placed under the Ikari's care as her legal guardians and the Soryu's estate was to be held with the Ikari's as well until Asuka has graduated from high school.

"Sir?" came a voice and Gendo immediately snapped back to reality

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry Ritsuko... I wasn't paying attention." Said Gendo

"Sir, what's wrong? If you don't mind me asking..." she asked

Gendo sighed deeply and slowly went over some of less disturbing detail of the chain of events of the previous night concerning Asuka and her family. Ritsuko and several of the other 'Bridge Bunnies,' who happened to overhear the conversation, gasped.

"Oh my god! That's horrible... Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know... The police are investigating the matter right now, but it's still way too early to expect any results from their efforts... I just hope they find the bastards that did this. Asuka doesn't deserve this." Said Gendo solemnly

"How is she?" asked Ritsuko

"Bad, even though she wasn't hurt physically, emotionally... She could be traumatized for the rest of her life." He sighed; suddenly the satellite alarm began to blare as their attentions were instantly fixed upon the readouts coming from the Magi and the holographic image being displayed on the screens.

"What's happening!" Gendo hollered

"It's the creature sir, it's increasing speed dramatically! From the Magi readouts, it's expected to collide with the Earth in less than one hour at current rate of acceleration!" Yelled Makoto Hyuga, his glasses nearly slipping off as he spun in his chair and addressed the commander

"What! Where!" he shouted

"Readouts coming in now sir...! Oh my god... Sir it's on a direct collision course Tokyo-3!" he yelled back

"That's impossible! Double check the readouts!" Gendo ordered

"I already have done sir! There's no mistaking... It's on a direct collision course with Tokyo-3!"

"Contact the local city government; let them know what's going on! We have to get everyone to the safety shelters before it's too late!" Gendo shouted

"I'm on it!" shouted Ritsuko and ran off to make the calls.

"I have to call Yui and let her know to get to a shelter!" Gendo shouted to himself and immediately dialed home from his console.


	17. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

Early next morning, right after Shinji left his house for school, he decided to skip it for the day and go to the hospital to see Asuka. He hailed down a taxicab and directed the driver to Tokyo-3 General Hospital, which delivered him to his destination a little over 18 minutes later. From his vantage point on the rooftop of his apartment complex, Kaworu spotted Shinji entering the cab and followed it, already guessing as to where he was going. After reaching the hospital, Kaworu descended from the air behind a thicket of trees and waited for Shinji to pay the cab driver before greeting his friend.

"Hello Shinji." Said Kaworu as the cab drove away.

Turning around quickly, Shinji wasn't expecting to see Kaworu waiting for him, "Kaworu! What are you doing here? I thought you would be at school?" Said Shinji

"I could say the same for you Shinji. However, I saw you entering the cab and thought that you would be coming here. So I decided to follow you to the hospital." Said Kaworu

"You did?"

"Yes I did." Kaworu smiled

"Well, I'm glad you're here." Said Shinji

"What are friends for?" Said Kaworu happily as he walked in to the hospital with Shinji.

Walking up to the reception desk, Shinji spoke to the nurse who was currently sitting there. "Excuse me ma'am, my name is Shinji Ikari. I'm here to see Asuka Langley Soryu."

"Asuka Langley Soryu..." She said as she typed in the name into the computer, "Oh yes, the poor girl from last night. Well, Mr. Ikari visiting hours doesn't start for another four hours..." Seeing the sudden reaction made her heart pour out to him... "However, I think we can make an exception for today."

"Thank you ma'am." Said Shinji

Entering room 423, at first nothing about Asuka's condition seemed to have changed, except now her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. Shinji began to panic, thinking that her condition had worsened, but then sighed with relief when he discovered that she was actually sleeping. Pulling up a chair next to her bed, Shinji held her hand while she slept and spoke to her softly, while Kaworu on the other hand, stood in the corner of the room next to the window, gazing out the window and admiring the morning view.

"Good morning Asuka, it's me Shinji."

There was no response from the slumbering girl that laid before him, so he decided that he would let her sleep and keep her company when she woke up; even if she wasn't able to comprehend his presence there or not. After just over fifteen minutes later, Asuka was still asleep when Shinji noticed a warm, slightly, burning sensation in the palms of his hands.

"Shinji they're here!" Kaworu shouted as a bright flashing light exploded outside the window. Instantly raising his AT Field, thousands of pieces of shattered glass came flying into the room. Shinji instinctively threw himself over Asuka to protect her incase some of the glass would make it pass Kaworu's AT Field. However no glass did, and no one was injured and suddenly the hospital began to shake as a second shockwave from the explosion rocked the building back and forth as if it were in an earthquake.

When the shaking finally stopped, Shinji lifted himself off of Asuka to see that her eyes were now open, and looking directly at him.

"Asuka!" Shinji exclaimed

But there was no answer, her eyes were devoid of emotion, they looked... Empty...

"Shinji come here hurry!" Kaworu shouted. As much as Shinji didn't want to leave her side now that she was awake, he had to pull himself away from Asuka and ran over the shards of glass on the floor to Kaworu's side. "Look, they're here." He said pointing to the distant horizon.

"What the hell was that!" shouted Gendo

"I don't know sir, our remote cameras of the city have been knocked offline! Switching to satellite remote link-ups!" hollered Maya Ibuki

As the link-up to the visual satellites were established, the command crew of Gehirn gasped in fear as the images became clear on the screen. There were two massive unknown life forms attacking the far end of the city. One appeared to be a chevron or wedge shaped with serrated blades on the inside of the chevron and a giant red orb in the center of the figure. It also appeared to be flying through the air, firing some sort of electrical energy from these serrated blades and was leveling buildings all over the city.

The second looked to be something out of an old Pre-Second Impact monster movie. It was a giant, odd looking creature with gray skin, four legs that came down to a sharp point for feet, a domed back and a smooth, featureless white skull with two perfectly round, empty holes in the front of the skull for eyes. This second creature, despite its bizarre physical appearance, moved almost gracefully across the damaged city streets.

"The JSSDF have been notified and they are sending in the troops to combat the, uh, the whatever the hell those things are!" Shouted Fuyutski over the blaring sirens of the emergency alarms.

"Sir!" hollered Aoba Shigeru, "The stone creature from space...! Its speed has just increased dramatically to a factor of ten!"

"What!" Shouted Gendo

"Yes sir, Magi Readouts predict that it will be entering the Earth's Atmosphere within the next two minutes!"

"Oh my God! Great! Just Great!" he screamed sarcastically

"How many people have made it to the shelters!" Shouted Ritsuko as she ran back onto the command deck

"There's no way of telling, the local government have only been notified a few minutes ago, and then all hell started breaking loose!" yelled Fuyutski

[Oh my god! Mother, please be safe...] Ritsuko thought to herself as another violent tremor from a gigantic explosion up above shook the underground facility of Gehirn.

"Look the JSSDF are fighting the Angels!" Shinji exclaimed

"Yes but they won't last long with conventional weapons!" Said Kaworu as they both witnessed several squadrons of jet fighters and VTols firing off missiles at the Angels; only to have them be stopped and explode prematurely by the Angels' powerful AT Fields.

"Damn it! If only I had my Eva here! I wish that I could have it back somehow, then that way I could at least fi..." Shinji stopped in mid-sentence as the sky was suddenly illuminated in a brilliantly bright orange light, as a giant fireball plummeted through the lower atmosphere. Scorching the distant sky in a trail of red-orange flame and black smoke. As the Eva made its trek towards the Earth, large pieces of molten stone were rapidly chipping and breaking away; reducing to ash caused by the intense friction of re-entry and quickly revealing the exterior purple armor of Eva Unit-01.

"What is that! Wait... Is that...?"

"I believe your wish has been granted my friend! If I'm not mistaken, that looks like Eva Unit-01, and it looks like it's going to crash just off shore the coast of Tokyo-3! Quick Shinji there's no time to waste; we have to make it to the Eva before Jariel and Ambriel do!" Kaworu shouted as he grabbed Shinji's wrist. Instantly raising his AT Field, Kaworu flew out the open window with Shinji in tow.

As they disappeared from her sight, Asuka desperately tried to speak out to bring him back to her side. "Sh... Sh-Shin... Shinji..." she choked out as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She so dreadfully didn't want to be left alone.

Soaring at lightning speed through the battle-ridden sky of Tokyo-3, Kaworu weaved and bobbed through the middle of the incoming JSSDF jet fighter formation making their way to intercept the enemy. Scaring some of the pilots half to death by having them see two teenage kids fly in the air and pass right by their squadron of fighters.

"What the hell was that!" shouted one of the pilots

"We don't have time to worry about what the hell that was, or who, or... Whatever! Just concentrate of your targets!"

"Yes sir!"

However the pilots weren't the only ones scared, Shinji kept his free hand clasped over his eyes as he was dragged through the sky, flapping like a rag doll, in between a squadron of jet fighters and VTols.

The JSSDF had mobilized their troops very quickly and were showing no mercy towards the "alien invaders" that were destroying their city. As the fighters and VTols launched an assault from the air, the ground troops were attacking them from below. They were fighting with an entire division of tanks, LAV's mobile assault vehicles with multi-firing missile platforms, and even with handheld rocket and grenade launchers. But even with all of their combined forces and firepower, it was all in vain as their attempts were dashed away by powerful, orange glowing AT Fields.

The Angels were not about to take this attack on them lying down either... Ambriel, changed his course and flew at the squadron of fighters and fired several powerful blasts of electrical energy, and reveled as the puny human machines exploded into large balls of flame. Their pathetic weapons, colliding with his AT Field, caused him no damage.

Jariel took the fight to the ground as he turned his gaze upon the mass of humans and their pitiful little war toys. Two empty eyes suddenly flashed bright white, and the earth beneath the human soldiers erupted and exploded. The screams of their pain and horror brought great joy to Jariel as he watched, gleefully, as the bodies of the dead were thrown into the air. The earth was swallowing up the ones who were still alive, as great fissures opened beneath them, and the fires of their exploding, useless weapons burned them to death. Even still, what brought them even greater joy was that they kept coming back for more... The stupid humans were still sending in more of their precious jets and tanks... How pathetic. But suddenly both Ambriel and Jariel caught sight of the great fireball in the sky, and off in the great distance, they caught the sight of Tabris the traitor and his charge, the Third Child, making their way towards the fireball as it crashed into the Pacific Ocean in the horizon.

_"It seems as if we will have a real fight after all my brother."_ Sneered Ambriel

_"Yes it does... Excellent, I was starting to get bored massacring these humans so effortlessly."_ Jariel snickered

_"Yes, they do die so easily don't they?"_ Ambriel mused to himself, _"Well then... Shall we my brother?"  
_  
_"Of course, let us kill their precious savior, and afterwards, we will make that traitor pay for his crimes against us."  
_  
The Eva had indeed crash into the Pacific Ocean just off the shore of Tokyo- 3 just like Kaworu predicted, the ensuing 500 foot tidal wave however caught him by surprise as they were both immediately drenched by 40 metric tons of ocean. Luckily for them both that Kaworu had his At Field up otherwise it is quite possible they could've both drowned. As the ocean water crashed away from them and almost a half a mile inland from the beach, there stood in front of them Eva Unit-01. To both Kaworu and Shinji, it looked in almost pristine condition, standing tall and proud, ready for battle along with it the Lance of Longinus by its side.

Taking a quick look back over his shoulder, Kaworu witnessed the complete destruction of the jet fighter and VTols squadron and the annihilation of the JSSDF ground troops by the Angels.

"We must hurry Shinji, Jariel and Ambriel will be upon us in a matter of minutes!" Kaworu stated firmly and continued to drag Shinji through the air until they were literally on top of the Eva, lowering both himself and Shinji onto the left shoulder of Eva Unit-01.

"Okay Shinji, now get inside and get ready to fight!" said Kaworu

"But how? I can't pull out the entry plug out by hand!"

Kaworu looked at his friend with urgency and astonishment, [He doesn't know yet!] "Shinji, I wish I had time to teach you everything you need to know right now but I don't! I promise you I will if we survive this, but you have to trust me, you can do this! You have the power within you to make the Eva obey your will! You control the Eva now! Just concentrate, reach out with your mind and feel the Eva's presence as if you and it were one and make it eject the entry plug so that you may enter it!" Kaworu hastily instructed as the two Angels were making their way towards the beach, meeting some resistance along the way from the JSSDF. "Shinji hurry we don't have time! Everything now depends on you!"

Shinji did as he was told; closing his eyes he concentrated on the Eva, trying to 'feel' the Eva's presence within himself.

(THUMP-THUMP)

It was as if he could feel a giant heartbeat.

(THUMP-THUMP)

Shinji gasped as he opened his now red eyes, he could feel the Eva. It's awesome presence of power filled him, it was as if the Eva was a part of him. An extension of himself...

(THUMP-THUMP)

He slowly raised his hand towards his Eva Unit-01 and willed it to eject the entry plug and open. Suddenly, the spinal column armor detached and raised higher up on the neck of the Eva and allowed the entry plug to indeed be ejected enough for the plug to open and allow Shinji access to enter.

Kaworu turned quickly from Shinji to find the Angels almost on top of them, "Shit! Shinji hurry and enter the entry plug!" He shouted and took to the air about 100 feet in front of Eva Unit-01 and immediately raised his AT Field to his full power in order to protect Shinji long enough to activate Unit-01. [The JSSDF have been defeated, it's all up to you now Shinji!]

_"Tabris you traitor! You will die along with the human filth you love so much!"_ Scorned Ambriel

_"The humans are more resilient than you think Ambriel, the proof is all around you! They have earned their second chance at existence! Why won't you accept it!" Kaworu shot back_

_"Because they are unworthy!"_ Jariel hissed _"And so are you!"_

_"You will not harm Shinji!"_

_"DIE!"_ Ambriel shouted telepathically

Instantly there was a volley of electrical energy and telekinetic energy blasts from both Jariel and Ambriel as they assaulted Kaworu with everything they had. The combined power from both Angels was too much for Kaworu to keep his AT Field up for long as he was bombarded by their powers one moment after another. He strained with all his might to keep his AT Field up long enough for Shinji to activate Unit-01, but he didn't know if he would be able to.

Shinji jumped down from the Eva's shoulder and entered the entry plug just as Kaworu floated away from Eva Unit-01. The entry immediately closed and injected itself back into the spinal column of Unit-01 and filled with LCL. [It still smells like blood.] He thought to himself. But this time something was different... He wasn't afraid... He could remember all the other times he entered the entry plug, and every time before, there was always some small amount of fear within him, even when he felt confident, which was rare. But now, he felt strong, powerful; it was as if he knew he couldn't lose. The stigmata on his hands began to glow as he slowly gripped the controls, his eyes glowed red and he felt his mind extending out to his Eva.

But then quite suddenly, he really could "feel" it. He had touched its mind with his own. There was no soul within his Eva, not anymore, but the creature was still alive, waiting for him to command it. He could sense the whole world around him through the Eva itself, and not through the computers in the entry plug to assist him, because some part of him WAS the Eva. The lights within the entry plug flashed on as the computer controls within activated and powered up to full capacity. Looking through the Eva's eyes, he saw his friend defending him with everything he had, and he was losing fast. The combined might of Jariel and Ambriel in their true form was too much for Kaworu to fight back alone. Kaworu's muscles were burning and he started to lose altitude as the constant bombardments only increased when the Angels sensed the Third Child enter the Evangelion.

Kaworu became soaked with his own sweat and his nose and ears started to bleed as he slowly started feel light headed and dizzy. [Sh... Sh-Shin-ji... I don't kn-know h-how much l-l-longer I can do t-th-this...]

Shinji took in the situation quickly and smiled, "It's time..."

Ambriel and Jariel took one last combined blow against Kaworu to penetrate his defenses, and this time they succeeded. His AT Field collapsed and Kaworu was sent flying back at tremendous speed, and was suddenly caught in Eva Unit-01's massive hand.

_"Kaworu, you can rest now... It's my turn now."_ Shinji unknowingly communicated telepathically and laid him to rest on the soft sand below._"You sons of bitches are going to pay for this!"_

_"I don't believe so Third Child, it is you who will pay!"_ responded Ambriel

Shinji's anger grew to unimaginable heights as the power of the Eva flowed though him even more than before, and suddenly he roared with rage... Not just Shinji within the entry plug, but the Eva as well; as if it was going berserk. But it wasn't, because Shinji and the Evangelion were now one in the same being.

Projecting his AT Field forward, the Angels didn't have enough time to react as they were thrown back almost 1,000 feet into the air. Without even thinking about it, Shinji grabbed the Lance of Longinuss and ran across the desolated terrain towards the ones responsible for the destruction of the city.

"I SWEAR I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS YOU BASTARDS!" He screamed as he launched himself at the closest of the fallen Angels and hurled his Lance of Longinus at it with all his fury.


	18. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

"I SWEAR I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS YOU BASTARDS!" He screamed as he launched himself at the closest of the fallen Angels and hurled his Lance of Longinus at it with all his fury.

The double-pronged lance pierced though the chevron wing of Ambriel, impaling him to the ground. Leaping on top of the downed Angel, Shinji pulled out his progressive knife from one of the vertical shoulder blades on his Eva. However, before he was able to thrust his knife into the Angel's S-2 Engine and put the thing out of its misery, a powerful energy blast exploded into Eva Unit-01's side. The energy blast scorched the purple armor of the Eva, however it wasn't powerful enough to cause the Eva or Shinji any serious damage.

As the Eva was sent tumbling head-over-heels on the ground, Jariel took the opportunity to fire another blast at the Third Child. But this time Shinji was ready for it and instantly raised his Eva's AT-Field halting the energy blasts dead in their tracks, as the orange hexagons pulsated from explosion. Rebounding from the sudden fall, Shinji rolled his Eva back on its feet and ran head long straight into Jariel's massive girth. The force of the impact was so powerful it created a sonic-boom shockwave that resonated for miles around. Unfortunately it also shook the Lance of Longinus loose enough to a point where Ambriel would be able to eventually shake himself free of the holy weapon.

In the meantime, Shinji and Jariel were locked in a life-and-death wrestling match, a bout in which Jariel quickly found himself on the losing side. Jariel's size and girth was the only thing that kept him alive at present; comparatively speaking, on all fours Jariel only came up to Eva Unit-01's chest. However, his mass was twice the size of Eva Unit-01, but Jariel's size was also proving to be a hindrance in this battle against the Third Child.

Shinji's Evangelion Unit was much faster, more agile and had quicker reflexes than Jariel. That, and the fact that with Shinji's burning rage and the sheer determination to win against the Angel, Jariel had very little hope, if any, on coming out on top of this fight alive. Shinji's progressive knife slashed, stabbed, and lacerated his enemy mercilessly as he thought of Asuka and what these damned monsters had done to her parents. Even though Kaworu had told him that it wasn't his fault, the guilt was still there in his heart. As far as he was concerned, it "was" his fault. He knew the Angels were back, he knew what they were capable of and he didn't even warn them... His friends, his family... None of them... He should've warned all of them of what was coming, but he didn't. He should've protected her, but he didn't... Now he's going to make them pay! He'll make every one of them pay for everything that they've done! All the pain and sorrow he felt inside, for his failure, was unleashed upon the trembling Angel.

"Arghhhhh!" Both Shinji and his massive Eva screamed as one, and Shinji delivered a powerful uppercut to, what would be considered, Jariel's jaw that sent him hurling into the air backwards crashing into a small mountain side. Pouncing on top of the Angel's fallen form, like a lion pouncing on its unsuspecting prey, Shinji slashed an enormously deep opening wound into Jariel's chest. The Angel cried out in pain, an unearthly, terrifying scream echoed thoughout the city, a fountain of orange blood bathed Eva Unit-01 from head to toe as Jariel's bright, red S-2 Engine was now exposed to the daylight.

_"My brothers will avenge me human!"_ Jariel weakly hissed in tremendous pain, unable to move any further.

Shinji completely ignored the Angel's last dying words as Eva Unit-01 plunged its progressive knife straight through the giant red orb. Thousands of white-hot sparks erupted from the shattering S-2 Engine like a volcano as Jariel screamed an unholy scream of pain and agony. Driving the blade even deeper into its heart, and slicing the knife downward, the S-2 Engine finally shattered into two large pieces while several hundred smaller fragments were strewn into the air. Jariel's mutilated body went limp, and the once bright S-2 Engine now resembled some sort of shattered, dull gray, crystal ball that has been dropped from a ten story building.

"Sir our satellite visuals are coming back online!" Shouted Aoba

"What happened to them!" said Fuyutski

"An extremely large of amount of energy disrupted our signals with our satellites sir, but they'll be back online momentarily!" he answered

"Good, I want to know just exactly what the hell is going on up there!" Said Gendo

"Sir they coming back on now!" said Aoba as the screens within the Command center of Gehirn blared with static and slowly became clear.

"Oh my god!" screamed Maya Ibuki as the everyone witnessed a colossal battle between one of the 'aliens' and a giant purple bio-organic mecha that strongly resembled the fossilized, stone creature from space. Currently the purple creature was in vicious wrestling match with one of the aliens, while the other one apparently seemed incapacitated, by a giant red spear, at the moment.

"My God Gendo... Did that thing really come back to life?" Fuyutski quietly asked

"I don't know, but it seems like it..." Gendo answered

"What the hell." Said Hyuga

"What is it?" Said Gendo

"Sir look!" Hyuga pointed to the screen, "The markings on the creatures shoulders and forearms! They're in English!"

"What! That's impossible!" Hollered Gendo, but as he stared at the screen, watching the intense battle currently taking place, the marking upon the creature became quite visible.

"But how? Who?" His brain was going into overdrive as he tried to make sense of all that was going on.

Ritsuko was slightly calmer as she read the markings on the giant purple creature's shoulders and forearms. "EVA 1, and EVA-01 TEST...? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She said to no one in particular.

"I don't know doctor, but it's obvious now that this thing, whatever it is, was definitely manmade..." Stated Gendo quite flatly

"But how? Who would possibly have the technology to create such a thing? The English...? The Americans...?" She asked

"I don't know doctor, but I intend to find out. I don't like having someone else's lost experiment in my back yard tearing up the city!" Gendo responded

"But Ikari, whatever this thing really is, it's defending us from those aliens!" said Fuyutski

"It doesn't matter, I don't like this whole damn situation one bit! Who's to say that those other creatures out there aren't just another group of rampant failed experiments running wild?" Said Gendo

Suddenly, the control panels of the 'Bridge Bunnies' started blinking on and off rapidly, and then strange readouts started to pop up on the computer screens all over the Command deck.

"Ibuki what the hell is going down there?" shouted Fuyutski

"I don't know sir, but we're receiving some sort of signal from an unknown external source!" she answered, "Wait... Hyuga what the hell does this 'Synch Ratio' supposed to mean?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know that!" He responded a little more aggressively than he intended

"Wait a minute, let me try something!" Said Ritsuko and punched in some commands into the computer... "This is impossible!"

"What is it Doctor!" Shouted Gendo

"Sir, these signals are coming from the purple creature, and it appears to be completely compatible with our computer systems!" said Ritsuko

"But how...?" Gendo said to himself

"Sir, it looks like that there is actually someone inside that creature and piloting it!" Ritsuko stated

"Is there any way you can find out who it is!"

"I believe so sir, if I'm interpreting these readouts from that thing correctly, I should have some sort of visual from the, uh... Cockpit, I think!"

"Do it!" he ordered, and as Ritsuko typed in the commands, a screen appeared on the main monitors in the Command Deck and everyone gasped at what they saw.

"What the hell! That's a kid!" Hollered Aoba

Gendo on the other hand could not believe what he was seeing; there on the screen was an image of his son... With a look on his face that he had never seen his son wear before, it was a face filled with absolute rage and pain. His once sparkling blue eyes were now the color of bright, crimson, red... It was a sight that horrified his father. "SHINJI!"Shinji was too caught up in battle to realize that he was now unconsciously broadcasting a signal, and that he was being monitored. Before he was able to recognize that fact, he was fired upon by a powerful blast of electrical energy, hurling him into the air and crashing into the ground several hundred feet away. Ambriel had freed himself from the Lance of Longinus.

_"You will die for this atrocity human!"_ Ambriel shouted venomously

"Give it your best shot you son of a bitch!" Shinji screamed back loudly in defiance. However, unbeknown to him at that time, his comments were also being transmitted back to Gehirn Headquarters, as evident by the stunned reactions of everyone on the Command Deck.

"What was that! Who is he talking to!" asked Gendo as another tremor passed overhead.

"Is it possible he's talking to the alien?" Said Fuyutski

"You mean he may be in communication with it?"

"Maybe... Or more likely he could be just taunting and insulting it, but there's no way of telling for sure." If they only knew that Fuyutski was correct on both points, some of them would probably have went through the roof, if they hadn't already.

Back on the battlefield above ground, Shinji and Ambriel were now fully engaged in combat as Ambriel continued to fire beams of electrical energy at Shinji, who at the same time was either blocking the beams with his AT- Field or was dodging them all together. Ambriel used his advantage of flight very well, but it still wasn't good enough. Flying pass Eva Unit-01 at incredible speeds trying to penetrate Shinji's AT-Field by using his energy beams or by forcing himself though it by using high velocity in combination with his own AT-Field. However the Eva proved to be much more of a challenge as he failed in every attempt at punching through the human's defenses. During the melee however, Shinji suddenly felt the presence of 'something else' nearby. As Ambriel came low for another deadly pass, Shinji quickly rolled his Eva to the side, quickly took aim as the vengeful Angel passed overhead and threw his progressive knife upwards. The knife penetrated the Angel's AT-Field and pierced the underside of one of the chevron wings, just short of Ambriel's S-2 Engine.

_"ARGHHHH!"_ Ambriel screamed as he quickly took to the air and gained altitude to escape the Eva's potential grasp.

Quickly spinning around, expecting to see Jariel regenerated and ready for battle, Shinji was shocked and relieved at the same time to see that it was not the presence of the Angel he felt moments ago. It was in fact the Lance of Longinus he felt. Momentarily dropping his guard at seeing the Lance so close by, he was blindsided viciously by Ambriel and was driven into the ground. Pinned to the Earth by the Angel's chevron wings, Shinji found himself unable to free himself from Ambriel's grasp.

_"As I said earlier Third Child! You will die most painfully!"_ Ambriel sneered as he extended his serrated blades to pierce through the Evangelion's outer armor into its flesh.

Shinji screamed out in pain as he felt the blades cut through his arms and slice straight through his rib cage and chest. He screamed again, even louder this time as millions of volts of electricity flowed like a river from the serrated blades of his enemy, and was coursing through and around his entire body.

As Shinji was being electrocuted, Kaworu regained consciousness, his vision was blurry but he could distinctly make out the sounds of battle being waged far off in the distance. Trying to focus his concentration on the source of the battle, vision slowly came back to him at the same time Shinji was taken to the ground.

"No... Shinji!" Kaworu screamed out, scurrying to his feet, he immediately fell back to the ground as his head spun with dizziness and throbbed in pain. "Damn it!" he hissed between his teeth as he held his head in his hands. Centering back on the battle, Kaworu spotted the Lance of Longinus just out of reach from Eva Unit-01's grasp.

_"Shinji! Can you hear me!"_ Kaworu desperately tried to call out to him telepathically, but no answer came back as Shinji continued to scream out in pain._"Shinji, if you can hear me then just listen! Concentrate on the Lance of Longinus! Do you hear me Shinji! Concentrate on the Lance and will it to come to your hands! You can do it Shinji, I believe in you! Will the Lance to you, it will obey! It's your last chance! The Lance of Longinus is yours now Shinji! Will it to obey you!"  
_  
Even though he couldn't respond, Shinji listened to Kaworu's words and forced himself to focus his concentration on the Lance. Trying very hard to ignore the pain he still felt, Shinji suddenly became aware of the Lance of Longinus and the power it possessed. It was almost as if it had a life and a will of its own. Then quite unexpectedly the Lance levitated off the ground into the air and promptly delivered its way into the desperately waiting hands of its new master and transformed itself from the double- pronged spear of its natural state, into that of a giant battle-axe. Clutching the holy weapon in his hand, and clenching his teeth tightly, Shinji bent the elbow of his Eva and drove the long and powerful blade of the battle-axe clean through the Angel's chevron wing severing it completely from the rest of the body.

Ambriel howled in pain as Shinji freed himself from his evil grasp. Quickly rolling out from underneath the Angel's mutilated form, Shinji's Eva delivered a powerful, crushing kick into Ambriel's side, sending him toppling end over end near the corpse of his former comrade. Gripping the giant battle-axe tightly in both of his hands, Eva Unit-01 reared up on its feet and threw the shining, red colored weapon at its nemesis with all its might. As the battle-axe whirled in the air, Ambriel neither had the time nor the strength to raise his AT-Field. The last thought that ran through his mind was only that of a single word..._"SHIT!"_ The power of the mighty battle-axe completely obliterated the Angel's S-2 Engine into a million fragments which scattered across the countryside in the blowing wind.

Breathing heavily, Shinji looked down at his fallen enemies with a sense of relief and jubilation. [I did it!] He thought to himself, "I told you I'd make you pay you bastards!" He yelled out and leaned back in the pilot seat of the entry plug, closing his crimson red eyes. The overwhelming and intoxicating power of the Eva he'd felt during the entire battle started to fade away and he started to feel normal again. However, Shinji also started to feel the pain in the aftermath, his body had taken more of a punishing toll than he had thought, and he winced from the ache. [That was for you Asuka... I made them pay...] He said to himself as he slowly opened his sparkling blue eyes.

Scanning the terrain to assess the extent of the destruction, he was relieved to see that the majority of the damage caused by the battle was on open land, and nowhere near and industrial or residential areas. But as his gaze turned toward the city itself, he was horrified and his face turned pale. The city was on fire, dozens of city blocks were in flames and giant plumes of black smoke rose from the burning buildings. Looking more closely even still, Shinji spotted the scattered debris and the remains from the hundreds of dead bodies from the JSSDF. Shinji's stomach churned as he had the sudden urge to puke. There were bodies everywhere, strewn about the burning equipment and weapon platforms from the ground troop... Mangled, mutilated and rotting away in the hot sun, smoke rose from many of the bodies that were still burning the exploded equipment. There wasn't a single survivor from the JSSDF as far as Shinji could tell. He was on the verge of breaking down and crying, when he suddenly heard the distinctive sounds of helicopter propellers nearing overhead.

Looking up into the sky, he could clearly make out the silhouettes of five helicopters, but for some reason they didn't look like the typical military helicopters. Then he knew why... It was because they weren't from the military... They were news choppers! Apparently when the city came under attack from the Angel's and the JSSDF were deployed to fight them, the media launched all of their remaining news choppers that weren't destroyed into the air to get the story out. They had broadcasted the entire battle when the JSSDF first engaged the Angel, including Shinji's epic battle and ultimate victory over Ambriel and Jariel as well. It was a total miracle that none of them had gotten caught in the JSSDF crossfire or came between Shinji and the Angels.

[OH CRAP! What am I going to do! I can't let anyone know who I am can I? What the hell am I going to do!] Shinji began to panic as he turned to see a squadron of VTols off in the distance making their way towards Eva Unit- 01's position at breakneck speed. Obviously they were called to support the JSSDF division who were already fighting, but they came too late. The JSSDF had been wiped out and the only thing left standing was Shinji and his Eva. There was nowhere for him to run, the news choppers had him on the left and from above as they were still transmitting their footage of his Eva to every news station in Japan, and eventually the world. The VTol squadron was coming in fast from his right. He didn't want to runaway because that might make them think that he was a retreating enemy and they would try to kill him. But he didn't want to fight them either, they weren't his enemy, the Angels were, and still are. So he did the only thing he thought that would get them not to shoot at him, he raised his Eva's hands slowly with palms open and slowly kneeled to the ground, showing his surrender.

Suddenly there was a crackling noise and Shinji knew instantly what it was... [Arghh! I must have accidentally activated the communication systems when I was fighting! CRAP!] He yelled at himself.

"This is Sub-Commander Fuyutski of Gehirn to the pilot of the, uh... Giant purple creature! Identify yourself immediately or the JSSDF will be ordered to fire!" Fuyutski demanded firmly.

"Uh, hehehe... H-Hello S-Sir... My name in Sh-Shinji I-Ikari sir... Uh, hehe, nice day huh? Umm... How are you doing Sub-Commander? Hehe..." Shinji stammered and stuttered as huge amounts of sweat beaded off his forehead and mixed with the, currently, clear liquid of the LCL within the entry plug; his face turning beat red.

Back at Gehirn headquarters... Fuyutski sighed and looked over at the commander, "You were right Gendo... It's him."

"Shinji... What the hell is going on here? What have you gotten yourself into?" Gendo said to no one in particular and frowned deep with worry.


	19. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Shinji remained submissive as the JSSDF VTols surrounded Eva Unit-01 and took up firing positions. As far as they were concerned this thing was still a potential threat, it didn't matter if it "did" just kill the two alien invaders and save millions of people in Tokyo-3 or not. They weren't going to take any chances. The news choppers backed away to a safe distance as instructed by the JSSDF for their own well being, however, they were still close enough to get marvelous footage, which was now being broadcasted all over Japan.

"This is Haruka Shitow coming to you live from Tokyo-3 for Tokyo-3 Channel 5 News. If you're just tuning in, we are at the site of what could only be called a battlefield of epic proportions. Earlier today Tokyo-3 came under attack by two giant creatures of unknown origins. These creatures seemingly came out of nowhere and rained destruction upon Tokyo-3, destroying dozens of city blocks and killing hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people. The Japanese government deployed the entire first division of the JSSDF personnel to combat these creatures from a nearby base. Unfortunately, the combined forces of the JSSDF was not enough to stop them, as we here at Channel 5 broadcasted the complete annihilation of the JSSDF division... Our deepest condolences go out to those families who are affected by this tragic loss of life... Just as we thought all hope was lost, this giant purple creature down here..." The cameraman panned down and zoomed in on the Eva.

"Apparently this rose out of the ocean just off the shore of Tokyo-3 Beach and proceeded to engage the other two creatures in hand-to-hand combat. Now if you look closely, you can clearly make out the registration of this giant creature on its shoulders and forearms. It seems that this creature is something called an 'EVA.' What that is exactly we don't yet know, as our sources within the Japanese government and the military are not responding to our inquiries. Even so, it is plainly obvious to see, at least to this reporter, that this 'EVA' was constructed and designed specifically to fight these other creatures. Which rumors has it calling them 'Aliens.'

Now I'm not sure if these other creatures are in fact aliens or not, but if they are, then why didn't the government warn the community about their impending attack, since it's plain to see that they had enough time and resources to build such a powerful mecha in the first place. As of right now, it appears that this 'EVA' is showing no signs of resistance to the JSSDF VTols that currently have it surrounded. Further evidence that this mecha poses no threat to us and is most likely on the government payroll..."

As the news report went on, the entire gang, Rei, Hikari, Toji and Kensuke, (minus Shinji and Asuka), were all in the emergency shelter at the high school, Along with all the other students and faculty members as well. Amazingly, Misato Katsuragi had been extremely calm and level headed while most of the other staff members were on the verge of panic as the sirens blared. She organized all the teachers and was able to lead the students in an orderly fashion down to the emergency shelter without anyone getting hurt. Toji and Kensuke were awestruck by her leadership abilities, which only deepened their infatuation for her.

Once down in the shelter, the students were separated into their homeroom classes and the televisions were brought in so everyone would be able to understand just exactly what in the hell is going on. The first image that flashed on the screens was that of a jet fighter being struck down by a lightning bolt and exploding in the air. Loud gasps and screams were heard throughout the school as they continued to witness the destruction of the JSSDF by these two, massive, grotesque looking aliens, who seemed to be intent on destroying the entire city of Tokyo-3.

But then the aliens sped away from the city towards the beach at speeds much higher than the news choppers were capable of following. What they were able to get however, was of the two creatures in the far distance destroying yet another squadron of Jets and VTols, and of yet another 'third' alien. A giant purple one... Everyone thought that it was only a matter of time before they would all be killed, but then something happened that no one was expecting. The first two aliens started attacking the third one, the purple one, didn't actually do anything at first. It looked as if it had a force field up and was waiting for something, but then the force field looked like it exploded, and suddenly the thing went wild. It roared loudly, like an animal, and fired some sort of energy field at the first two aliens and attacked them both with extreme fierceness.

Everything that came afterwards was history, no human beings alive had ever seen such a life and death struggle like this before. Especially between creatures that no one knew ever existed. The entire school population, not to say the entire nation of Japan, became speechless, and now... The two murdering "aliens" were dead, and the giant purple "Eva" killed them both in protecting the city. But now the JSSDF had the Eva surrounded and was unsure of what to do. It was obvious by its posture that the Eva was surrendering itself to them, but they didn't know why. As Rei, Hikari, Toji and Kensuke, as well as everyone else in the school, remained glued to the TV screens, Misato was anxiously looking around for a few of her students that seemed to be missing.

"Excuse me kids, but have you seen Shinji, Asuka or Kaworu anywhere? I didn't have time to take roll this morning when all of this chaos started happening." Said Misato

"No Miss Katsuragi, I haven't seen Shinji or Asuka this morning, and I don't know Kaworu very well." Said Rei

"Pssst... Kensuke, who's Kaworu?" asked Toji

"Oh he's a new transfer student that came in when you were still in the hospital the other day." Kensuke replied

"Oh."

"I haven't seen any of them either Miss Katsuragi." Said Hikari

"Us neither." Both Toji and Kensuke said at the same time.

"Oh God... I hope they weren't caught out there in all of that fighting. They could be seriously hurt or worse." Misato stated very concerned.

The looks on the faces of her students turned very grim at the thought that their friends could be dead right now. Suddenly their attention was shot back at the TV screen when the news reporter came back on...

"Ladies and gentlemen, we here at Channel 5 news have just received word that the JSSDF is about to issue an ultimatum to the giant Eva any minute now. Please stay tuned and stand by for further developments..." Stated the reporter as the image now panned over from her, to the squadron of VTols and Eva Unit-01.

The commanding officer of the VTol squadron, Col. Chen Kenichi, was about to voice his demands over the loud speaker to the Eva when his second in command, Lt. Col. Masaharu Morimoto, relayed a message to his superior that came in.

"Sir wait." Said Morimoto

"What is it?" Said Kenichi, sounding a little irritated

"Sir we've just been given orders by Gehirn not to get involved with the Eva. They're claiming it's their jurisdiction and that the pilot belongs to them."

"What! I don't take orders from Gehirn! They're not the military; they're nothing more than a bunch of civilian scientists and researchers who don't know the first meaning of sacrifice. They weren't the ones killed out there today, we were! The JSSDF were the ones giving their lives to protect their sorry assess, the entire 1st division was wiped out and they DARE tell us to back away! I don't think so!" Kenichi bellowed as he once again went to issue his demands over the loud speaker.

"This is Col. Kenichi, speaking to the pilot of the giant 'Eva.' You have one minute to stand down and give yourself up peacefully or you will be fired upon!" The loud speakers boomed.

Everyone, everywhere, who was watching a TV sat silently as the JSSDF's ultimatum, was issued...

Back at Gehirn though, no one was pleased...

"What! They can't do that! They don't have the right!" Shouted Maya Ibuki

"God damn it! Why won't they just follow orders! I don't want my son being exposed to the world like this!" Said Gendo

Shinji on the other hand was in deep contemplation over the current situation... No matter how he went over it, there was no way around it. If he ran, they'll attack... If he refused to reveal himself, they'll attack... In either situation the JSSDF would attack and he would be forced to defend himself and possibly kill them in the process, and that was something he was not prepared to do. So he switched on his external communication systems and sent out his reply...

"Okay... I'm coming out... Just give me a couple of minutes and don't shoot..." Shinji's response boomed loudly.

"Shinji what are you doing? You're not a part of the military so you don't have to follow their orders! I'll make a call and..." Gendo was saying when Shinji spoke up.

"But I have no choice, if I run away or if I remain in the entry plug and refuse to give myself up, then they'll fire. I don't want to fight any of them... So... I have to do what they say..." Shinji said sullenly, hanging his head down low. "I'm sorry..." he apologized and cut the link between Eva Unit- 01 and Gehirn.

"Shinji!" Gendo shouted as the image of his son went blank on the main screen.

Meanwhile, everyone back at the school waited patiently with a mixture of excitement, awe, joy, and fear at what they were about to witness. Just who is this pilot anyway? Who was the savior of their city? Was it a man or a woman? Everyone was extremely anxious to know the identity of this incredibly brave and noble person. They all sat in silence and wonderment as they continued to watch the news report. Shinji had cut all links with Gehirn and his Eva as the LCL within the entry plug slowly began to revert back to its natural orange state and smelled like blood.

_"Shinji..."_ a voice spoke in his mind.

"Kaworu? Is that you?" Shinji called out.

_"Yes it's me... Try not to speak out loud Shinji, speak with your mind, just as if you were speaking or thinking to yourself. Think of the words in your mind and I will hear you."_ Said Kaworu.

Shinji closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on speaking the way that Kaworu did. _"Like this?"_ he asked

_"Yes that's it, I knew you could do it... Shinji I'm sorry..."  
_  
_"For what?"_

_"For the situation you're in right now. I'm sorry but there's nothing that I can do for you, there's simply no way for me to help you get out of your Eva without you being seen to whole world."_ Kaworu explained

Shinji smiled to himself and eased his friends concerns, _"Don't worry yourself Kaworu, it was bound to happen sooner or later. When you look at it, there was just no other way that this could have happened... I mean' it's not like you can go running around in a great big, giant sized, purple mecha around a city battling the forces of evil and not be noticed."_

Kaworu laughed, as Shinji chuckled to himself as well, and finally sighed heavily... _"I just wish there was another way... Be careful Shinji."_

_"I will, I'll see you later I guess..."_

_"Yeah..."_

And with that said, Shinji steeled himself for the inevitable. The news cameras were rolling and millions were watching as the Eva lowered its hands to the earth and leaned forward closer to the ground, as if it was bowing. Everyone, including the JSSDF pilots with the itchy trigger fingers, held their breath as a section of armor on the Eva's spinal column seemed to detach itself and moved up higher along the base of its neck, exposing the top of the entry plug. The entry plug spiraled upwards and stopped as powerful streams of orange LCL was ejected out, spraying and splashing downwards on Eva Unit-01 and the ground below.

It was as if the whole world stopped spinning as the entire school watched in anticipation when the hatch to the entry plug finally opened. Their eyes fixated on the TV screens before them, everyone was quiet as one hand latched on to the side of the entry plug and then another. Probably in order to help the pilot's exit a little easier. His hands grasping the sides of the entry plug, Shinji paused for a moment and took a deep breath. Bracing himself for the backlash of the obvious media frenzy that was to come later, Shinji rose out of the pilot's seat and stepped out of the entry plug and onto Eva Unit-01's back. He was still dripping wet from the LCL as his hair was matted down and his school uniform clung to his skin, looking like he was just into a pool with his clothes one, he raised his hands slowly into the air and cautiously made his way down the back of his Eva to the center of its back. Looking around nervously, Shinji smiled goofily and waved at the news cameras that were filming him.

The Colonel of the VTol squadron starred in shock as Shinji made his way down the back of the giant purple mecha. "What the hell! He's just a kid! Why... He's no older than eighteen years old at the most, and he's the god damned pilot of that thing!" Col. Kenichi cursed.

"Sir!" Said Lt. Col. Morimoto, "We just got word from Commander Ikari..."

"Who?"

"Commander Ikari, he's the commander of Gehirn, Sir."

"So what?" Col. Kenichi said

"Sir the pilot of the Eva down there is Shinji Ikari... He's Commander Ikari's son!"

"What!"

As the pilot stepped out of the entry plug to the Eva and made his way down the back, gasps and shouting erupted throughout the entire student body of the school as they all immediately recognized whom the pilot really was. The teachers tried desperately to maintain order, but to no avail. The school was a buzz at what just transpired and what this could possibly mean in the future.

"Shinji!" Rei shouted when she saw his face on the TV screen

"It can't be Shinji! I mean, that's just not possible right?" Hollered Toji

"I can't believe this man! This is so cool! How did he get so lucky to pilot something like that! I mean this is completely amazing!" Kensuke exclaimed

"Quiet down you guys, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation here. I mean, the government wouldn't just let someone like Shinji pilot something as powerful and as dangerous as that thing! Right?" Said Hikari

Misato on the other hand sat there with her eyes wide open and staring at the screen. Shinji Ikari, one of her students, had just killed those two alien creatures and saved the entire city from complete destruction, and now he was being treated as an enemy by the JSSDF. She looked over at Rei, who had a look of great concern in her eyes, and then back to the news report on the TV as the ruckus continued...

Back at Gehirn...

"I swear if they hurt one hair on my boy's head after what he's done, and before I get to him first, I'll..." Gendo was speaking angrily as the loud ringing of the telephone, on the commander's desk in the Command center, broke his ranting.

"Hello? Commander Ikari speaking." Gendo stated firmly, then suddenly pulled the receiver away from his ear and winced in pain as the, obviously pissed off, female voice on the other end screamed bloody murder over the line. Grimacing as he hesitantly put the receiver at a safe distance from his ears, Gendo desperately tried to explain to Yui just exactly what was going on, with absolutely no signs of success.

"Honey... But... But just... Sweetie... Dear I... Darling... Sugarplum... Well no I... Well yes I... But... But... But Honey I... But... But... But... If you'll just let me..." A very loud 'CLICK' could be heard as Gendo sighed heavily and put the receiver away. Hanging his head down low like a beaten dog, he slammed his head on his desk and kept it there. Fuyutski, standing by his desk the whole time and the only other person who clearly made out the entire conversation other than Gendo, stood completely in shock and amazement at what his ears just heard.

[I had no idea that those words were even in her vocabulary!] He thought to himself as he walked over to Gendo and spoke in a low tone. "So... What are you going to do now?" He asked

"I don't know... The truth is I don't know what was scarier today. Being attacked by those 'aliens' and nearly being wiped out from the face of the planet, or my wife..." He mumbled, never raising his head from his desk.

"You know you're screwed right?"

"Oh really? What gave that away?" Gendo said sarcastically.


	20. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

It had been almost six hours since Shinji was taken custody by the JSSDF and thrown into the brig. It was cold and dark since there were no windows. The funny thing was that he thought he would have been interrogated by now, but so far nothing had happened. So he laid there on the thin mattress on the bunk and stared at the gray ceiling with his arms folded behind his head. Luckily for him, they threw him into an empty cell; at least he had some small amount of privacy that way. He'd just wished that he had been allowed to take a shower before they threw him in the brig cell; the LCL had long since dried and his clothes now wreaked of what smelled like blood. He could hear the guards outside his cell talking about the events that happened a few hours ago and couldn't believe that a kid just saved their asses from being completely taken out.

A few more hours passed by, as he laid on the cot in the jail and stared at the ceiling and still no one had come by to interrogate him or anything. At least he was given a meal at dinnertime; well it was edible anyway. Shinji wouldn't have exactly called it real food or anything, in truth he didn't actually want to know what it really was. But he was hungry and he hadn't eaten all day, so he stomached it and forced it down. Of course he was pretty sure that he would be feeling it the next morning. Suddenly the bars of his jail cell slammed open and two mean looking guards walked in. Feeling a little apprehensive, Shinji began to back away a couple of steps.

"Okay kid, it looks like you're free to go." Said one of the guards

"What?"

"I said you're free to go kid! It seems like you got some pretty high friends with the Japanese government and the UN, so we're letting you out."

"Oh, okay." Shinji walked out of the cell and was escorted by the two guards out of the brig to the 'Greeting' area, as the MP's called it. Basically it was nothing more than a dull gray room with cameras, guards at every entrance and a single large window at one side of the room that reminded him of the usual police station reception area shown in the movies. Except this one wasn't in a movie, this one was for real. As he entered the room, followed by the two guards, his father along with a couple of high-ranking military officers were waiting for him.

Lt Col. Masaharu Morimoto and Col. Chen Kenichi were not pleased, they had lost many men during the battle and this kid had all the answers, but they were not going to able to question him. The UN had come down hard on them and ordered them to release Shinji Ikari over to Gehirn.

"Well Colonel, I'd like to thank you for your cooperation." Said Gendo

"Hardly Commander Ikari, I had no choice in the matter! So tell me Commander, just what exactly is Gehirn, a civilian research organization, doing in creating such large and powerful combat weapons like those Eva's anyway!" Col. Chen Kenichi growled

"I'm sorry Colonel, but that's classified information." Gendo stated

"Hmph!" Col. Chen Kenichi huffed, "Yeah right."

"Come on Shinji, let's go home." Gendo told Shinji

"Uh, Okay." As Shinji and his father walked outside to the car, Shinji could feel their glares on the back of his head.

"I don' trust that man." Said Lt Col. Morimoto

"I trust that kid even less." Col. Kenichi sneered. "Did you smell him when he walked by?"

"Yes sir, he smelled like blood."

"Exactly, I think that kid knows a hell of a lot more than he's letting on."

The sun was setting over the horizon during the car ride home. Neither Gendo nor Shinji had said a word to each other since they left the JSSDF brig compound. It was certainly a surprise, Shinji would have expected that his father would be ranting and raving by now; he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Uh... Father I..." Shinji started to speak and was abruptly cut off

"DAMN IT SHINJI! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" Gendo shouted at the top of his lungs almost losing control of the car.

"Wahh!" Shinji jumped back defensively

"Seriously Shinji, what the hell is going on with you, huh! I mean just how in the hell were you able to pilot that thing anyway! What exactly do you know about it! Well? You got a lot of explaining to do!"

"Y-Yeah w-well, it's kind of a long story..." Said Shinji

"Well you've got exactly twenty minutes boy, because that's how long it's going to take for us to drive home, and believe me, I have absolutely no desire to go home right now." Gendo sighed, "Yui is going to kill me when we get back and I want to know everything that's been happening to you and exactly what those creatures are, so that when I get back home to your mother my death won't be in vain."

"Huh?" Shinji said confused

"Shinji, do you know how much trouble I'm going to be in? And I'm not just talking about with your mother either... I've abused my position as the Commander of Gehirn and I've lied to both the Japanese government and to the UN. I told everyone that you're one of our secret test pilots and that we've been training you to pilot that... Uh, what was that thing called again? Oh yeah, the Eva... What do you think is going to happen if, or even worse, when, they figure out the truth behind all of it? Getting fired will be the least of my problems, a life sentence in a federal prison would be more likely to happen." Gendo explained

"I didn't know that... Can you really get into that much trouble?" Shinji asked

"Yes I can." Gendo said solemnly "With the attack on the city, the media coverage, and the fact that so many people died... If the Japanese government and the UN find out that I've been lying about you and the Eva, I can look forward to spending the rest of my life in a 6 foot by 8 foot prison cell with a guy named Big Bubba."

"Oh... I'm sorry..."

"So... Are you going to fess up now or what? We only have fifteen minutes left before we have to face your mother's unholy wrath."

"Well..." Shinji sighed, "It's sort of like this, remember those nightmares I was having a few months ago...?"

"Yes."

"Well, they were more than just nightmares actually. They were kind of like... Umm, I guess you can call them like, premonitions or something." Said Shinji, obviously spinning the real truth a little into something else.

"Premonitions huh? Of what, those aliens?" asked Gendo

"They're not aliens... They're..." Shinji hesitated for a moment, "They're Angels."

"Angels...?" Gendo stated raising his eyebrow, "What do you mean by Angels?"

"You know. Angels... Real Angels, from heaven." Said Shinji

"Angels from heaven..." Gendo sighed, "Shinji what kind of a story is that anyway? Do you really expect me to believe something like that?" Gendo said now in a firmer tone of voice.

"I'm not lying! Those things are Angels, not aliens! Although I don't think people would care what they are either way. A lot of them still died." Shinji lowered his head and stared out the window of the passenger seat. "From what I know, these Angels are rebelling against God. They want to wipe us off the face of the Earth because they believe that mankind is a mistake; an abomination that needs to be destroyed..."

Gendo listened carefully as Shinji went on, "What else...?"

"What I saw in my nightmares were of the Angels trying to annihilate Tokyo-3. They can have several forms... Some of them may look human, and the other form is of their true self, those are the forms they fight in. It is also their most powerful." Said Shinji, "They can produce a force field around them that's extremely powerful in which conventional weapons will have no effect on. If I remember right it's the light of their soul, an impenetrable barrier that no one can pass through. It's also called an Absolute Terror Field, or AT-Field for short."

Gendo thought hard and quietly as he continued to drive himself and his son home about what he was just informed of. "You got all of this information from your dreams?"

"Yeah..." Shinji said Solemnly

Taking a quick look at his son, he sighed. "Why is it that I feel like you're leaving out a lot of information Shinji? You know a lot more than you're letting on don't you?"

Shinji remained silent.

"Well, I guess that, for right now, it doesn't really matter how you know all of this information about the alie... I mean the, 'Angels.' But... The board of inquiry won't think so; they're going to want to know everything, including how you know all of this. They won't except your dreams as being premonitions as an acceptable answer." Said Gendo.

"What board of inquiry?" asked Shinji

"The board of inquiry, that's being held by the UN and the Japanese government tomorrow. After everything that's happened, there's no way that the government and the UN are simply going to let something like this slide."

Shinji remained silent for a moment and pondered. "I know, but it's all I got..."

"And what about that thing you piloted, the 'Evangeline' I think it's called."

Shinji snickered as he heard his father butcher the Eva's proper pronunciation. "It's called an 'Evangelion,' not 'Evangeline.'" Said Shinji

"Evangelion then... Well, what about that thing, we discovered that it has manmade computer components that are compatible with the computer systems at Gehirn in its makeup. But I would have thought that was impossible seeing how we never created a giant biological mecha before. Now I don't suppose you know anything about that, do you?"

"Well, I guess you can sort of say that, it's a gift from up above." Shinji said unconvincingly.

"Oh really?" Gendo stated

"Sort of, it was constructed so that humans can pilot it." There was an air of truth to what Shinji said, but again, he left out some important details behind its true origin.

"And just who exactly made the Eva, Shinji? I know we didn't. There's not a single organization on this planet with the technology capable of creating such a thing."

"Well, I guess you can say that, the ones who made think that we are truly in need of it." Said Shinji, again a true statement, but completely.

"You're being really vague here Shinji." Gendo becoming a little irritated at his son's lack of details. "Just tell me how is it that you are able to pilot that thing in the first place? In fact, how in the hell were you even able to get inside of it anyway? Weren't you supposed to be at school?"

"I skipped school..." Said Shinji

"Well I know that! Why?"

"I went to see Asuka... I wanted to see if she was getting better." Shinji's voice was low and full of pain.

"Shinji..." Gendo sighed heavily, he knew that Shinji and Asuka were close, they've been best friends since they were children, and in all honesty he couldn't blame Shinji for wanting to see Asuka. "You still haven't completely answered my question."

"I saw it entering the atmosphere like a giant fireball, from the window in the hospital, and... I don't really remember what happened next... The only thing I can remember was being at the hospital with Asuka and then I was inside the entry plug of Eva." Spinning the truth once again, Shinji didn't want anyone to know about just how exactly he got from the hospital to the beach in such a short time. He didn't want anyone to know about Kaworu and his abilities, even though he trusted his father, (at least in this universe), he couldn't take the risk of someone else finding out. "After that, I don't know... It was weird; I just knew how to pilot the Eva. All the controls seemed so familiar and everything felt natural, like I've done it before. Then I saw those Angels destroying the city and then they were coming after me, so I fought back."

Gendo was thinking about this new situation he found themselves in as he made the turn onto their block, "Shinji I... What the hell?"

Shinji looked ahead to see what must have been hundreds of reporters jamming the street, with cameras, news vans, and equipment he'd never seen before. Suddenly a couple of the reporters saw the car and before either one of them knew it, the car was overrun with anxious news reporters from just about every station in Japan trying to get the exclusive interview with the 'Hero that saved Tokyo-3.' The flashes of the photo cameras exploded all around him as Gendo cursed at the reporters and continued to steadily push the car through the sea of people.

"God damn it. I hate news reporters, miserable little leaches! I mean look at this, don't they know they can cause an accident by doing something as stupid as this. Hmph! I doubt they even care, that they're blocking people's homes." Gendo said out loud to himself.

Luckily for them, the UN had provided Gendo Ikari with a temporary security detail to restrict access to the Ikari Residence, at least until all of this media ruckus had calmed down. The UN soldiers pushed the people aside, clearing a path for Gendo's car to drive through safely. There were shouts of 'Freedom of the Press' and 'The people have the right to know' as they passed by, but neither Gendo nor Shinji wanted to hear it at the moment. The presence of the soldiers in a residential neighborhood made all of this seem so unreal to Shinji.

[None of this kind of attention happened to me before, why now?] He wondered.

Gendo paused for a moment and sighed very heavily as he finally pulled into the driveway. [God, please have mercy on our souls...] Gendo prayed, "Okay Shinji, I'm not sure if I can completely believe your story right now, but it's all I've got to tell them. I want you to come with me to the inquiry tomorrow understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." Said Shinji

"Good, because we better pray that they believe your story, otherwise it's our asses." He again sighed heavily, "Now it's time for us to face your mother."

"I'm not looking forward to this..." Shinji said quietly

"You're not looking forward to this! You didn't hear what she said to me on the phone earlier!" He shouted, "Well... Let's do this..."

Needless to say, the next couple of hours were some of the worst hours the Ikari men had to endure in their entire lives. Pots, pans, plates, silverware, even a couple of wooden chairs, everything except for the sharp knives and the kitchen sink were thrown at them while under the constant verbal attacks from one, extremely irate, Yui Ikari. After Shinji's appearance on TV for saving the city, newspapers and stations from all over Japan had hounded her for the rest of the day, and she was not happy in the slightest.

But, every time one of the men tried to open their mouths to explain what really happened, "But Yui honey if you'll just let me explain..." Gendo pleaded

"Don't honey me Gendo Ikari you son of a...!"

Yui would fire off some more of the most lethal verbal assaults either one of them had ever heard, along with a couple of glasses and a toaster and a microwave. After her war had taken its toll on her, Yui retired to 'her' bedroom leaving the men feeling weak and impotent to say the least. Shinji sulked to the bathroom and took a shower to wash off the LCL and his father began to clean up the ravaged battlefield that was once his living room.

When Gendo woke up early the next morning on the couch, cold and shivering, he quietly tiptoed to the bedroom, so not to wake up Yui, and changed his clothes from last night. He could've sworn however, as he left the bedroom, that Yui still had a menacing scowl on her face even as she slept.

[That's not good...] he said to himself

Making his way to Shinji's room, he walked over to his bed and shook him awake. Shinji rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and after putting on a fresh pair of clothes, both Shinji and Gendo snuck out of the house without making a sound.

"Uh father...?" Shinji spoke up as they were pulling out of the driveway

"What is it Shinji?"

"Do you think it's a good idea to leave like this before mother wakes up?"

"Honestly son... I don't know. Probably not, but after last night, I have no wish to repeat any of that this morning... Just incase..."

"Oh... I agree."

As they were pulling out of their block, they were bombarded by dozens of news reporters who had camped out in their news vans over night. Bulbs flashed as they took pictures of the 'Hero' and his father. The UN soldiers performed their duty as they had the day before and forced the media back away from the Ikari's and Gendo was finally able to drive away towards Gehirn. Unfortunately for the both of them, several news vans were also pulling away from the block and were attempting to follow them. It didn't last long however as the UN soldiers also blocked the media's exit, allowing for Gendo and Shinji to make their 'escape' from the 'leaches,' as Gendo called them.

Gendo pulled the car into the Gehirn parking garage, a place that was very familiar to him as Misato used to pull her car into the very same garage.

"Come on Shinji." Said Gendo stepping out of the car

"Okay." Shinji replied

The pair made their way to the security door, and Shinji could feel apprehension build up in his body. He never thought that he would be returning to this place again, even if it was under a different name, the facility was still the same. As Gendo swiped his card through the scanner, Shinji held his breath momentarily as the door slid open.

"Shinji are you okay?" asked Gendo, noticing his son's sudden change in complexion and lack of breathing.

"Huh? Oh yeah... I'm just... Well..." Shinji stammered

"Nervous?"

"Yeah... You could say that." Shinji replied

"Don't worry son, I'll be there with you, just in case things start to get a little too heated."

"Thanks." Said Shinji, and they entered through the door into Gehirn.

After a few moments of descending down the lengthy escalator, Shinji peered out onto the enormous Geo-Front, and as far as he could tell, nothing had changed from the last time he remembered.

"Amazing." Shinji said to himself

Everything was exactly the same and the scenery took his breath away the same as it did the first time he was here. The acres upon acres of trees, the small manmade lake, except the lake was actually filled with water this time and not the orange LCL; the pyramid headquarters building of Nerv, or Gehirn as it was called now, it was truly an amazing sight to behold. Shinji felt a strange sense of nostalgia for it all; in some weird way, he missed it. He didn't miss the pain, the suffering or the sorrow that came along with this place. No, he didn't miss that at all... But what he did miss was a sense of being, a sense of purpose that came with being an Eva pilot. As much as he hated it, as much pain as being a pilot brought him, he felt like he mattered when he piloted the Eva... He felt like he was needed, and he missed that feeling.

"Yes, it is amazing isn't it?" Said Gendo

"Huh?" Said Shinji, slightly startled and snapping out of his reverie of the past. "Oh, yes it is." And he meant it.

"It's an actual Geo-Front, the excavators found it purely by accident nearly twenty years ago. Gehirn claimed the rights to the cavern and now it serves as the place for our headquarters. It took us years to plant the trees and construct the facility. But now it's actually quite beautiful if you just sit back and look at it." Said Gendo, and Shinji couldn't agree more.

Passing through the Geo-Front, Shinji and Gendo finally arrived at the main ground level of the underground facility and it was just like he remembered, it was like he never left at all, and then he suddenly started to think to himself. [I wonder... If this place hasn't changed, then would everyone else be the same too?] Little did he know that soon all of his questions would be answered.

As they continued their way through Gehirn, Shinji was recognizing the route they were taking from his past experiences, however, he wanted to be sure and decided to ask. "Father where are we going?"

"My office, we're about an hour early so the board members for the inquiry haven't arrived yet." Said Gendo leading the way.

Shinji felt apprehension building up inside of himself again at the mention of going to his father's office. He didn't like being there at all; in some way it scared him. It was always so dark and ominous, he always felt small whenever he was summoned there. His father would sit behind his desk, his hands clasped together in front of his face, staring at him with cold eyes. The desk would be located in the center of the black empty void with some strange, almost cult-like, symbols and images illuminating the ceiling and the floor. It felt harsh and somewhat menacing to see his father in his office, they were experiences that Shinji didn't want to repeat.

"Here we are." Said Gendo as he unlocked the door.

Shinji paused for a moment, bracing himself for the cold, empty, darkness that was his father's office, as he turned and stepped though the doorway. There were lights everywhere and you and you could actually see the entire office. The walls were painted white and were decorated with what looked like classical paintings, a fancy looking rung and sofas were placed in front of his desk, which was still located in the center of the office. But that wasn't all of it, in the far corners of the office were some tall potted plants, Shinji couldn't tell what they were exactly but they looked like something similar to ferns; and... The far wall itself was knocked out and was replaced by a panoramic window, peering out over the Geo-Front. What he saw before his eyes completely blew his mind and he collapsed to the ground, flat on his back.

Slowly coming back to consciousness, Shinji could hear two separate voices over him. One of them was male, obviously his father's; but the other was female, she sounded familiar but he couldn't place a name to the voice. As he opened his eyes, his vision came back and he could he his father leaning over him with a blond haired woman in a lab coat.

[Ritsuko!] Shinji exclaimed to himself. He couldn't believe it, she hadn't changed at all; the same short blond hair, the lab coat, the clipboard in one hand, and the same beautiful smile.

"So you're finally awake." She said

"Hello Doctor Akagi, how have you been?" Shinji spoke to her as if they hadn't seen each other in a week, when in reality, in this reality at least, they had never even met. Noticing his mistaken bluntness, Shinji blushed slightly as she helped him up to his feet.

"How did you know my name?" she asked

"Uhh... It's on your nametag." He stammered

Looking down at her lab coat she spotted her nametag and felt like an idiot. "Oh yeah, I always forget about that thing."

[Whew! That was close.] Shinji thought, [I have to watch myself around here.]

Ritsuko looked back up at Shinji and smiled, "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, it was nothing really. I must have tripped on something and hit my head." He said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Just be more careful next time okay." Said Gendo

"I will."

"Now then, Shinji I would like you to meet Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. She's our head scientist and medical physician here." Gendo introduced

"Hello doctor, it's a pleasure to meet you." Shinji said, bowing respectfully

Ritsuko chuckled at his politeness, "Hello Shinji, it's nice to meet you too. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better."

"Uh, really?" Shinji asked

"Well of course, I'd love to hear everything you know about the Eva and how you were able to pilot it." She smiled

Shinji smiled back, "Okay, I'd like to tell you all about it, just as soon as I get a chance to do so."

"Good, it's a date."

"A D-d-d-d-date!" Shinji stuttered nervously

Ritsuko couldn't help herself but laugh out loud at his reaction, "No silly boy I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you made a promise and I expect you to keep it."

"Oh I'm sorry." Shinji blushed embarrassingly

"Hahaha! That's all right Shinji. I think it's cute." Ritsuko smiled, causing Shinji only to blush even further.

"Well, come on in you two and take a seat." Said Gendo as he had already made his way in and sat at his desk, behind a small a stack of paperwork.

Shinji had never seen paperwork of any kind on his desk before, then again, he never imagined in his wildest dreams that the "Office of Darkness and Fear" could ever end up looking like 'this' either. Shinji went ahead and took a seat on one of the sofas in front of his father's desk and Ritsuko sat down on the one directly across from him.

"So Ritsuko, how's the current operation doing?" Gendo asked

"Ahead of schedule sir. The four crews are working overtime to construct the retractable dome on the roof of the Geo-Front right now. We're also converting one of the old satellite launch bays to accommodate the Eva. The dome construction will be completed by tomorrow evening and the launch bay should be completely converted by next week." Ritsuko reported

"That's good to hear." Gendo stated and then turned to Shinji. "Well it looks like your new toy is going to have a new home pretty soon."

"Huh?" uttered a confused Shinji

"The Eva Unit. Currently there is no way for us to bring the Eva inside the Geo-Front of Gehirn, so we're constructing a dome on top of the Geo-Front that can retract back and open up to the surface. That way we'll be able to lower it down, and as soon as the old launch bay is converted to handle the Eva's massive size, we'll be able to store the Eva Unit there instead of having it out in the open; even if it is in the Geo-Front." Said Ritsuko

"So where is it now then?" asked Shinji, feeling a little stupid for not having thought about they would get it inside before. He just automatically assumed that it would have been easily placed inside with no problems.

"The UN and the JSSDF have a joint security force guarding the Eva right now. They've surrounded off the perimeter and have VTols in the air to chase away anything that comes too close." His father explained.

"Oh..." Said Shinji just as the door slid open and Sub-Commander Fuyutski stepped in.

"Ah Fuyutski, say hello to my son Shinji." Said Gendo as Shinji stood up to show his respects.

"Shinji Ikari... The last time I saw you was on our monitors yesterday fighting off those giant aliens, good job kid." Said Fuyutski as he extended his hand to Shinji

"Hehe, uh thank you sir." Said Shinji as a bead of sweat formed on his temple.

"Is that it?" Gendo asked

"Yes it is, and I'm afraid you're not going to like it." Fuyutski replied as he handed some documents over to Gendo.

"What is it?" asked Shinji as he suddenly noticed Ritsuko looking worried and her breathing became shallow.

"These are the final death toll reports from yesterday..." Gendo said solemnly, "This isn't good... The JSSDF, the UN, and the populace in general are not going to like this."

"What's the count." Asked Ritsuko with a small trace of concern in her voice

"The JSSDF lost just over 2,300 personnel with 1463 wounded... That's the entire 1st division." Said Gendo

"And the... civilian population?" asked Ritsuko, biting her lower lip.

"4,645 were killed, and another 13,621 were injured... Mainly from the business and the university districts."

Ritsuko gasped at hearing that most of them had been from the university district, "Is my mother one of them?"

"I'm sorry Ritsuko, none of the names of the people who were killed or injured on these reports; just the numbers. I'll have Lt. Ibuki make some calls to the hospitals and see what she can find out." Said Fuyutski, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you sir." Said Ritsuko as she got up and walked out of the office, obviously wanting to be alone, as she was walking out, Shinji could've sworn that he heard her crying.

"I hope her mother is alright, I hate seeing her like this." Said Gendo

"Me too... Oh yes, I almost forgot, the first of the board members have just arrived."

"Very well, set them up in the conference room down the hall. We'll be there when they all arrive." Said Gendo, Fuyutski nodded and walked back out of the office to tend to his duties and have one of the lower ranking personnel baby-sit the board members.

Just as Fuyutski exited the office, Gendo phone rang and he reached over to answer it. "Commander Ikari speaking... Yes we are Asuka's guardians..."

Shinji's ears perked up suddenly by the mention of Asuka's name. [I hope nothing bad has happened.] He said to himself

"What do you mean? Is she well enough for that...? I see... Is there anything special we need to help her with afterwards? Yes... Thank you doctor, we'll be there as soon as we are able. Goodbye doctor." Said Gendo and hung up the phone.

"What's wrong? Is Asuka okay?" Shinji asked worriedly

"Everything is okay Shinji, it was just the hospital letting us know that they are releasing Asuka from the hospital today. With all of the people who were brought in from yesterday, Asuka's physical condition doesn't warrant her continued stay in light of the current situation."

"But what about mentally, I mean, she..." Shinji was at a loss for words, how could the doctors just throw her out like that when she clearly still needed medical attention.

"Don't worry Shinji, the doctors said that being in a home environment may actually help her recover faster; but they did suggest that she goes to see a psychologist for her emotional trauma."

Shinji just sat there, staring off into empty space with his hands cupping his mouth. He was trying to think of ways to help Asuka get better, but nothing was coming to him and he was unconsciously twitching his left leg. No mattered how much he tried to rationalize it; he still felt it was his fault and that it was his duty to help her. Gendo noticed Shinji's twitch and decided to try to put his son at ease.

"Shinji, don't worry about it. Asuka will be okay, she's a strong girl, and I'm not saying it's not going to be hard on her. Far from it, it's going to be very hard, she witnessed her parents being murdered in front of her eyes. But with professional help, she will realize that it wasn't her fault. It'll take a very long time for her to make a full recovery from what happened to her, maybe even years, but eventually she will get better and move on with her life." Said Gendo with faint, but genuine smile on his face. He just hoped that his words were able to help his son at the moment.

"Thanks father." Said Shinji putting on a fake smile for his father, [You're right father, it wasn't her fault... It was mine...]

"Come on Shinji, we should go prepare for the inquiry now." Said Gendo standing up from his desk.

"Okay."

The "inquiry" was more like an all out interrogation that was being conducted by the UN. Shinji was expecting this to happen; actually, he expected it to occur the day before; but what he wasn't expecting were the people involved in the inquiry. Senior UN council members Rokusaburo Michiba and Masahiko Kobe, along with two JSSDF Generals, Gen. Hiroyuki Sakai and Gen. Koumei Nakamura, and the Senior Chairman of UN Internal Security Takeshi Kaga. This was a little too much than what he was thinking it would be, and now he would have to explain himself to some of the most powerful people in the Japanese Government and the UN.

Gendo was ordered to leave the inquiry session as the board members settled in their seats. "Commander Ikari, you are not needed here at this particular time. You may leave now." Said Chairman Kaga

"What? Excuse sir, but I was..." Gendo started to say but was immediately cut off

"Commander Ikari, that is an order, now please leave! This session of the inquiry is for your son only. Believe me, we 'will' be calling for you later." Stated council member Kobe firmly.

A few moments of silence passed, then Gendo turned and headed out towards the door. "I'm sorry Shinji." Gendo mouthed as he walked past his son.

After his father both heatedly and reluctantly left the dimly lit conference room, the last member of the board made himself known as he stepped out of the shadows from the corner of the room and took his seat next to Chairman Kaga. He didn't identify himself but Shinji had an odd feeling about the man, it was as if he recognized him from somewhere, even though he have never seen him before in his life. He was an older man with gray hair, short in stature, a little overweight and wore a red visor over his eyes. What they were actually for, he couldn't tell; probably to help him see, but he doubted it.

The interrogation went on for what seemed like hours, with Shinji sitting at one end of the conference table and his interrogators sitting at the other end. Everyone was throwing questions at him left and right and was expecting immediate answers. Everyone that is except for the man with the red visor; he just sat there and remained quiet during the whole thing. Most of the questions being hurled at him were about the "Aliens" and the massive Evangelion. Shinji remained truthful for the most part, leaving out some details here and there, and so far no one had apparently caught on.

"So let me get this straight... You're saying that the 'aliens' that invaded and destroyed nearly a quarter of Tokyo-3 yesterday, and killed thousands of people, were not aliens at all, and that they were actually in fact, Angels?" Stated Chairman Kaga

"Yes sir." Said Shinji

"You mean actual, honest-to-God Angels? As in the bible, with wings, halos, harps and holy powers and so on?"

"Yes sir, but I wouldn't really describe them like that. They..."

"Ridiculous!" Shouted Council member Masahiko Kobe as he abruptly cut Shinji off in mid-sentence. "If these things really are Angels from heaven, then why would God send them down to Earth to destroy us huh!"

"But sir it's not like that! They..."

"Bullshit! Do you really expect us to believe this crap!"

"Mr. Kobe, please show some manners. Profanity is not needed here." Spoke the man with the visor.

"Ah, Chairman Keel, I was wondering when you would speak up." Said Chairman Kaga.

[Keel... Why should I know that name?] Shinji thought to himself

"I speak only when I find it important to." Said Keel, "So Mr. Ikari..."

"Yes sir." Said Shinji

"I would like to know more about these Angels."

"Chairman Keel, you can't possibly believe that these Angels are real do you?" Said General Sakai

"Is it so hard to believe that Angels exist, any more than your precious 'Aliens' General? Besides we've all seen the damage these Angels can do first hand, on our very own city no less. So unless you have anything useful or constructive to say, please sit down and keep your mouth shut."

"Why you son of a bitch!"

"General please, settle down!" Shouted Council member Michiba, and after a few more minutes of bickering back and forth the General finally backed down.

"Now then... Before we were so rudely interrupted, Mr. Ikari will you please tell us more about these so called Angels." Said Keel

"But I've already told you everything I know about them." Said Shinji

"Yes you have, but just amuse me, tell us why they're here... I assume you know the reason they've attacked us." Said Keel.

As everyone sat and stared at Shinji, waiting for an answer, bead of sweat appeared on his temples. "Well not really... The only thing I know is that for some reason, the Angels seem to have become angry with mankind, and now they're here to punish us for our sins." Which was in fact only half true, because he did know the real reasons they were here, but he didn't want to give himself away and answer too many questions. It'll only make them more suspicious of him.

"I don't buy that answer at all! You're hiding something from us!" Shouted General Nakamura as he slammed his fist on the table.

"General Nakamura, restrain yourself." Said Keel flatly, "If Mr. Ikari says that this is all he knows about them, then we should believe him; after all, why would he lie? He knows that it'll only get him into more trouble. Besides, his father is Commander Ikari of Gehirn, and I don't think that Mr. Ikari here would do anything intentionally deceitful that could be potentially harmful to his father's career or worse... Do you?" Said Keel, showing no emotions on his face.

"Honestly, I'm more interested in this Evangelion Unit or Eva... Mr. Ikari, would you be so polite as to tell us where this..." Council member Michiba started to speak.

"Gentlemen, this has been a very long and taxing morning. For all of us... Why don't we just conclude this meeting and call it a day? We can always continue it tomorrow morning if need be." Keel suggested.

"What! You can't be serious!" Shouted Council member Kobe

"I am quite serious. We all we need to know more about these Angels, and if the rest of you are still interested in the Eva, then I'm sure that Commander Ikari would be more that cooperative in letting everyone here see the research that have been performed on the unit. I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult... Especially within the next day or so." Stated Keel, with just a barely visible smirk on his lips.

[What does he mean by that?] Shinji thought to himself, as the others in the room started to fuss like children once again.

"Gentlemen!" Stated Chairman Kaga, "Chairmen Keel is right, it has been a very long day already, and I don't know about you but I would like to this meeting to an end and go to lunch. I don't want to miss my reservations at the Kitchen Stadium Restaurant."

"So would I." Said Council member Michiba, "Besides, it's just like Chairman Keel says, we can always request copies of the Evangelion research through Commander Ikari at a later date if we wish it. Besides, I got plenty of questions I want to ask him myself. But I'd rather do it tomorrow morning, seeing that this inquiry can easily last the rest of the day."

As the other council member and the generals grumbled, they couldn't see any fault in the logic and agreed. "Good then I officially call this meeting to a close for today. Mr. Ikari, you are free to leave." Said Chairman Kaga

"Thank you sir." Said Shinji as he happily got out of his seat, and stretched, as he made his way to the door and exited the conference room, followed by the UN council members and the generals, who made their ways to the elevators. Chairman Keel however, was the only one who remained behind... Thinking to himself and smiling, [It's only evident that the boy is lying, but the other members of this board are too naïve to see it. They're more concerned with 'alien' invasions than with the truth. A truth that I have clearly seen.]

Meanwhile, Shinji made his way back towards his father's office.

"Shinji, I was wondering when everything would be over with... Are you okay?" he asked, flipping through some papers.

"Yeah I'm fine, it was a lot longer that I thought it would be." Shinji replied

"Were there any problems?"

"Not really, just a lot of shouting back and forth." Said Shinji as he sat down on the same sofa he had occupied a few hours earlier. Just then the door chimed.

"Come in." Said Gendo, and as the door slid open, a man with a long ponytail and a stubble beard walked into the office.

"Kaji!" Shinji exclaimed a little too loudly, [Damn! I sounded a little too much like Asuka when I did that!] He cursed himself, and then his face saddened as he thought of Asuka still in the hospital.

"Shinji, I see you're better from the last time I saw you. You looked pretty good fighting off those things on TV yesterday." Said Kaji making his way over to the sofa area.

Shinji blushed slightly at the mention of the fact he was on TV, "You saw that huh? I suppose everyone did."

"You got that right, they've been replaying it all morning on all the news channels. I've heard that even CNN, BBC and all of the other news networks around the world are broadcasting the footage from yesterday as well. You're a world famous butt-kicking celebrity now kid. You should be proud of yourself." Kaji said smiling as he slapped him on the shoulder.

"Uh, yeah... Thanks. So Kaji what are you doing here? I thought you worked for the Japanese Government, I didn't know you worked for Gehirn." Said Shinji

"Well to answer your questions... A, I'm here to see your father. B, I do work for the Japanese government, but not for Gehirn." Kaji smiled

"Oh." Said Shinji, smiling a bit

"Mr. Ryoji, I was expecting you. You found your way around well I trust." Said Gendo as he stood up and walked around the desk.

"Oh yeah, Ritsuko was very helpful." Kaji smiled

"You two know each other?" He asked casually

"Yes sir, we went to college together."

"I see, well that's good. I never did thank you properly for saving my son in the park that day." Said Gendo in genuine gratitude and stuck out his hand.

"Thank you sir, I greatly appreciate it. But it really was nothing at all, I did what I had to do." Said Kaji as he took Gendo's hand and shook it.

"Nonsense, you risked your life in saving my son, so Mr. Ryoji what can I do for you? I was told that you had some important information to tell me?" said Gendo

"Yes sir it is, as you know I work as the liaison for the UN and the Japanese government and... unfortunately sir, I come baring some bad news."

"What is it?" asked Gendo. Kaji simply handed him a large sealed document-sized envelope. "What's this?"

"It's your new orders sir... The UN has sanctioned that Gehirn be placed under Nerv jurisdiction." Said Kaji

"What!"

"I'm truly sorry about this Commander, but I'm simply the messenger... I myself have been ordered to remain here as an observer for the time being."

"Why the hell would they do something like this!" Shouted Gendo

"Apparently sir, since the appearance of those creatures yesterday and the attack on the city, both the Japanese government and the UN have agreed that since the Eva, I believe that's what you call it, is a Gehirn project; they believe that it would better supervised under a military organization. Everyone here currently assigned to Gehirn will remain with their current positions but they'll simply be taking orders from Nerv from now on. You'll still have your rank as Commander as well sir, but someone else will be supervising the facility from now on. Kaji stated as gently as he could.

"And just exactly who will that be?" Said Gendo, not please with the sudden turn of events.

"That would be Chairman Keel Sir." Said Kaji

"KEEL!" Shouted Gendo as the door to his office slid open and the very man they were talking about stepped in.

"You called Ikari." Said Keel with a smirk on his face, "It's been a long time hasn't it?"

"Keel!" Gendo exclaimed. Kaji remained as calm and collected as he was before while Shinji was completely confused and didn't know what to think. He knew there was something fishy with this guy at the inquiry, but he just couldn't place what.

"Greeting to you too Gendo." Said keel

"You bastard! I thought you retired!"

"Yes I did, but retirement didn't agree with me, so I pulled some strings and took the position of the Commander of Nerv." Keel smiled

"So you're the asshole who did this then!" Tossing the orders in Keel's face

"Yes I did, we can't possibly have a civilian organization in charge with the security of this country now can we. So that's why I suggested that Nerv be in charge... The JSSDF can't possibly be placed in this position because Gehirn is a UN Organization, but Nerv can." Keel smirked again

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Gendo hissed venomously

"Actually I am, but that's beside the point... The point is that Gehirn is the only facility capable with the storage and the maintenance of the Eva unit, am I right?"

"So!"

"So, since the Eva is obviously a weapon to combat this new threat, and Nerv is the only organization that can properly execute the use of this new weapon. It was only apparent that Nerv be placed in direct command over the defense of this country and the Eva Unit that is going to combat this new threat. But there's no need to fear Gendo, you're not being fired or anything like that, you'll just be following my orders from now on. Just like the good old days." Said Keel

"You son of a bitch, I've never liked you!" said Gendo

"Too bad, but that's the reality of the situation." Keel chuckled

"Get the hell out of my office!" Gendo shouted

"If that's what you really want, then I guess I can oblige you... For now anyway... But don't forget Ikari," Keel said in the open doorway as he turned his head towards the three men still in the office. "You 'Will' be taking orders from me for now on Gendo, so you might as well get that into your head and get used to it right now. Oh, and you can keep this office, I won't be needing it anytime soon... Besides, I hate with what you've done with the place. Black is better." Keel laughed as he stepped out of Gendo's office and the door slid closed behind him.


	21. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

That evening around 8:30 pm, at Tokyo-3 General Hospital, Shinji Ikari walked into Asuka's room to find that she was awake and staring at the ceiling. He slowly walked over to her bedside and held her hand. Asuka turned her head to see Shinji standing there, holding her hand, but her eyes were still empty and she didn't say anything.

"Hey Asuka." Shinji said quietly as he grabbed a nearby chair with his free hand and placed it next to her bed so he could sit down. "They're letting you out of here tonight, you're going to come home with me. My parents are right outside, as soon as they're done with the all the paperwork and talking to the doctors, you're free to go. We got a room set up for you at our house, my father had some people bring over all of your stuff so you don't have to worry about anything okay."

But Asuka still didn't say anything; instead she stared into Shinji's eyes. Looking into his sparkling blue, gentle eyes, Asuka's mental barriers started to break down, and her own eyes began to well up with tears. A flood of emotions crashed onto the shores of Asuka's mind, fear, anger, rage, depression, sadness, loneliness, desperation, love and hope. As she continued to stare into his caring eyes, Asuka couldn't hold it in anymore and the dam broke. A river of tears streamed down her cheeks as the memories of what had transpired only a few days ago replayed in her mind over and over again in her head. The images of her mother and father, their mutilated bodies soaked in blood, and that murdering, evil, bitch of a woman. The feeling of total helplessness washed over her as she remembered the bloody knife pressed against her throat, her body being pinned down underneath that bitch, and her body being... Violated... Asuka's crying became louder and more intense and her body started to tremble. Shinji leaned over her and held her close to him, allowing her to cry onto his shoulders. Asuka returned the embrace and didn't let go, she was afraid to. Believing that if she did, he would leave her.

"Sh-Shin... Shinji... P-p-p-p... Please don't leave..." Asuka whimpered through her sobbing tears.

"Don't worry Asuka, I won't leave, I'm not going anywhere." Shinji consoled her as she continued to cry. He could feel her body shake beneath him as time passed between them. "It's okay Asuka, shhh... It's okay, shhh... I'm right here." He whispered gently into her ear.

Eventually Asuka's trembling subsided and her crying eased up, Shinji slowly released their embrace and sat back down in the chair, while at the same time never letting go of her hand. Staring deep into Asuka's reddened eyes and her tear streaked face; Shinji gave her a small but sad smile.

"Shinji..." Asuka choked

"Shhh... It's okay Asuka. You don't have to say anything. It's going to be okay now; we're taking you home." Shinji said in a soft, quiet voice.

"Really?" She sniffled

"Yeah, you're coming home with us."

"Shinji... I don't want to stay here anymore... I'm so scared..." The tears starting to run down her face again.

"Shhh... Asuka don't cry; you don't have to be afraid." Shinji said as he placed his hand on Asuka's warm cheek, "You don't have to be afraid anymore. I'll protect you; I swear it on my life. I will always be there to protect you; I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." He reassured her, a lump forming in his throat.

"Promise?" Said Asuka, sounding like a small and frightened child, which at the moment wasn't that far from the truth.

"Yes, I promise." Shinji smiled. A few seconds passed and Asuka pulled herself up from her hospital bed and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, hugging him close.

"I'm going to hold you to that... Dummkopf." Asuka giggled slightly, this time sounding a little more like her old self.

Shinji laughed at her statement, and pretty soon after Asuka joined in with his laughter. Temporarily forgetting about what happened to her and enjoying the present. Alone with Shinji, holding him close to her with no one else in the room, just Shinji and her, sharing a moment of laughter together and hoping that this moment would never end. She felt safe being in his arms and she wanted to stay in those arms for as long as she possibly could. Just then there came a gentle knocking at the door, slowly pulling away from each other, Shinji brushed away a strand of hair from Asuka's face.

"Thanks."

"Anytime." Shinji smiled

"Come in." Said Asuka loudly.

The door opened and both Yui and Gendo walked into the room.

"Asuka honey, how are you feeling?" asked Yui

"I'm a little better now, thank you for asking Mrs. Ikari." Said Asuka

"That's very good to hear, we brought you some of your clothes. We thought that you would feel better if you changed into some normal clothes before we left." Said Yui

"Thank you." Said Asuka as she accepted her clothes from Yui.

"When are we leaving?" Asuka asked tentatively

"Whenever you feel ready to dear; we just finished signing the hospital release so we can leave whenever you want." Yui said caringly

"Come on Shinji, let's give Asuka some privacy." Said Gendo

"Okay. I'll be right outside Asuka."

"Thanks Shinji."

Gendo and Shinji stepped out of Asuka's hospital room to let Asuka change her clothes. While waiting outside, they watched as all of the doctors, nurses, and orderlies working in overdrive to attend to the patients that were admitted yesterday due to the battle. In fact there were so many wounded people from the devastation that many of them had to be transferred to other hospitals in Tokyo-2. Tokyo-3 General Hospital simply did not have the room to handle so many people in need of care at one time, all of the available rooms were filled with patients, and some were even out in the hallways on portable hospital beds.

"I hate this." Shinji muttered to himself

"What was that Shinji?" asked Gendo

"Huh? Oh nothing... Just talking to myself."

"Something you want to talk about?"

"No, not really." Said Shinji

A few minutes later the door opened and Asuka stepped out, followed by Yui. Asuka was wearing a comfortable pair of loose fitting jeans and a white pullover sweatshirt with a hood. At that same moment Dr. Kamina, the same doctor that treated Shinji and Asuka from before, walked out from around the corner.

"Ah, Mr. And Mrs. Ikari, I was just coming to see if there was anything else you might need before you left." Said the doctor

"No doctor, we're quite fine. Thank you for asking." Said Gendo

"Miss Soryu, before you leave I just wanted you to know how deeply sorry we all are for your loss. But I also believe that you are in great, loving hands with the Ikari's. They'll take the very best care of you."

"Thank you doctor... I know they will." Asuka said quietly with a sense of sadness in her voice.

"Nurse!" The doctor called out.

"Yes doctor." Came a reply from one of the passing nurses.

"Have an orderly bring a wheelchair please."

"Yes doctor."

"But I don't need a wheelchair, I'm fine." Asuka protested

"I'm sorry Miss Soryu, but it's hospital policy." Said the doctor

Asuka was going to protest again, but then decided to drop the whole matter. "Okay." She sighed. Asuka didn't feel like fighting, she just wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible, and if that means that she had to get into a wheelchair and be wheeled out, even though she was perfectly healthy, then so be it. A short time later an orderly did bring a wheelchair by for the doctor, and then returned to his other responsibilities.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way doctor," Asuka said as she took her seat in the wheelchair. "But I hope that I never see you or this hospital ever again."

Doctor Kamina bellowed a hearty laugh and smiled. "That's quite alright Miss Soryu, no offense taken. I hope that you never have to come back here either. You take care of yourself."

"I will doctor, and thanks again... For everything."

"Goodbye." The doctor smiled

"Come on Asuka, let's go home." Said Shinji as he took hold of the handles on the back of the wheelchair and started rolling her down the hallway towards the elevators.

Upon reaching the main floor of the hospital Shinji, as well as everyone else, spotted a slew of reporters in the main lobby trying to get interviews with the families of the people who were injured during the attack to get a more "personal" view of what had happened the day before. The hospital security however were doing their best to keep the reporters out of the hospital lobby for safety concerns for the patients, but of course the reporters weren't as concerned about that as the others seemed to be, they were more concerned on getting first hand interviews for the 10 o'clock news stories.

"Hey you can't treat me like this! Don't you know who I am! I'm Haruka Shitow of Tokyo-3 Channel Five news, and you can't keep me out of here! Haven't you ever heard of freedom of the press!" shouted one of the reporters

"Ma'am, I honestly don't care who the hell you are! You and you your news crew are getting in the way of hospital operations!" shouted the security guard

"What hospital operation, everyone seems to be taken care of fine to me!" she shouted again

Gendo and Shinji looked on with disgust, how could these reporters care more about getting a story than with people's lives.

"Great just great. Now what are we going to do. There's no way we can get pass all of those news people without getting hassled for something." Said Shinji

"Excuse me nurse, is there a back way out of this hospital. We don't want to run into any of those reporters over there." Gendo asked a nurse who was carrying some bottle of medicine, making her way passed them.

"I can't blame you." She said, "Just go down to the end of the hallway to your left, and then take the last right. That will lead you outside in the back parking lot."

"Thank you."

"Not a problem." She said and continued on her way

"Okay Yui," said Gendo handing her the keys, "I want you to take the car and make it over to the back parking lot."

"Okay dear." Said Yui as she kissed him lightly on the lips

"Okay Shinji let's make our way around quietly." Gendo suggested

Yui was able to squeeze though the crowd of people in the lobby with some difficulty as the security guards were still pushing back the reporters out of the lobby. However, Haruka Shitow recognized the woman that bumped pass her as the mother of Shinji Ikari, the one who killed those alien invaders.

"Hey isn't that..." she started to say to herself, and then looked over pass the security guards shoulders to see Shinji and Gendo slip around the corner

[Hmmm...] She thought to herself, "Oh that's okay I guess. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. We'll be leaving now." Grabbing her cameraman and dragging him out of the lobby, passed all of the other reporters who were still trying to get in.

"Hey what are you doing? You know we need to get in and..." The cameraman protest, but then was immediately cut off as Haruka threw her hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"Don't worry I got something better. See that woman over there getting into her car?" she asked as she pointed to Yui, who was indeed getting into the family car to drive it around to the back.

"Yeah, so what?" asked the cameraman

"So, I think that's Yui Ikari."

"Yui Ikari, you mean..."

"Yup exactly, I just saw Shinji and his father making their way to the back of the hospital. Come on, we got to get there quick if we want to catch them before they leave." Haruka said as she and her cameraman jumped into their news van and burned rubber to the rear of the hospital in the opposite direction so they would be able to catch the Ikari's unaware.

Gendo, Shinji and Asuka made it safely to the back of the hospital parking lot, fortunately there were no news vans or reporters in sight. They ditched the wheelchair as soon as they exited the rear entrance and was now waiting for Yui to make her way around to pick them up. Just as Shinji saw the car slowly making the turn into the parking lot on the right, all three of them heard a loud screeching noise coming from the left to see a news van with the 'TOKYO-3 News' logo hauling ass into the lot.

"You've got to be kidding me!" shouted Shinji

"Come on kids, let's make it to the car before they..." Gendo tired to say, but it was too late. The van came to a screeching halt not ten feet away from them and they were almost instantly jumped by the zealous reporter.

"Haruka Shitow Channel Five News, Mr. Shinji Ikari can I get a few words with you!" She asked quite loudly as the lights from the camera flashed on in front of the trio nearly blinding.

"No, go away!" he shouted

"Mr. Ikari, the people have the right to know! What can you tell us about the giant Eva you piloted against those creatures! How do you feel about all of those people dying yesterday!" Haruka persisted, following them to where Yui had the car ready for them.

"Look, I just want to go home okay! Leave me alone!" Shinji shouted as they pushed their way pass the reporter over to the car.

"Who's this young lady with you Mr. Ikari, is she a friend? Was her family injured during the attack!" Which was obviously the wrong thing to say as Asuka suddenly turned around like lightening and punched the harassing reporter right in the middle of her face sending her crashing into the cameraman. Who in turn fell hard to the ground, with Haruka landing on top of him.

"Das geht dich einen feuchten Dreck an Weibstück!" Asuka shouted as Shinji urged her into the car, closing the door behind him.

As the Ikari's drove away, Haruka slowly got to her feet, holding her hand over her face as blood drip from between her fingers.

"Are you okay?" asked the cameraman, picking up the news camera, which seemed to be undamaged

"That fucking bitch! I think she broke my nose!" She shouted in a muffled voice

"Well, it's a good thing we're at a hospital. Now maybe they'll let you in." He chuckled

"That's not funny." She glared at him with dagger like eyes. "Did you at least get them on film?"

"Yup, go the whole thing. Even the knockout punch." He snickered

"Fuck you!"

Fifteen minutes later, Yui pulled the car into the driveway of their home.

"Here we are Asuka, are you alright?" asked Shinji

"Yeah... I'm fine Shinji." Said Asuka unconvincingly. She always liked the Ikari's, and they did have a nice home... But it wasn't her home... Her home was gone, and her parents were dead... She wasn't fine...

"Come on Asuka, I'll take you to your room. Okay?" Shinji smiled softly

Asuka looked into his eyes and smiled back, nervously. "Okay..."

Taking her hand, Shinji led Asuka out of the car to the front porch of their house. Yui and Gendo had already opened the door and were waiting inside for Shinji and Asuka to come in. Asuka was still standing there outside of the house not really sure of what to do, she knew she couldn't go back to her old home, and there was no way she was going back to the hospital. But she didn't feel right, going into Shinji's house and calling it her own too.

"Asuka?" Said Shinji

"I... I... I'm just... A little nervous I guess... I don't feel right doing this Shinji."

"It'll be alright Asuka, you'll see. This is your home now too. I'll even cook for you in the morning before school, how does that sound?" Shinji said

"Cook? I never knew you could cook." Asuka retorted

"Well, not many people do, but I do like cooking though, and I'm pretty good at it too." He smiled

"Okay then, it's a deal." Asuka grinned slightly, and she was led into the house where Gendo and Yui Ikari were waiting to greet them.

"Welcome Home Asuka." Said Shinji

"I'm... I'm home." Said Asuka


	22. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

The past six days had been extremely difficult for the Ikari's and more importantly for Asuka. Gendo and Yui had spent the past six days arranging the funeral for Asuka's parents and contacting everyone, letting them know what actually happened and when the funeral service for Asuka's parents were being held. It wasn't something that neither one of them had enjoyed doing.

Asuka had also been having terrible nightmares ever since she came back from the hospital. Shinji didn't want ask her about them, since it was obvious to him that they were about her parents. He would also stay up with her all night after she would wake up from one of her nightmares and watch late night TV until the morning. Asuka would usually try to watch something funny, and drink some coffee that Shinji would make for so she could stay awake, not wanting to fall back asleep and see it all over again. But the one from that night before had been the worst...

"What was that?" Shinji asked himself as he was stirred out of his sleep; just then he heard it again... It was the sound of Asuka screaming. Shinji immediately jumped out of his bed and rushed out the door to his room. He was wearing a pair of loose fitting gray sweat pants and a plain white t-shirt. Asuka's room was directly across the hall from his, "Asuka are you alright?" Shinji asked, worriedly, through the door but got no response from Asuka except for another high-pitched scream. Quickly opening the door Shinji saw Asuka lying in her bed, thrashing about, violently, under the covers.

"Asuka!" Shinji ran over to her bed and held her down to keep her from hurting herself.

Almost instantly she awoke with a fright, unaware of where she was and scared out of her mind as sweat beaded on her forehead. The feeling of being held down terrified her and she lashed out with her feet, kicking him in the groin, which immediately made him release his hold of her. "Get away!"

His eyes bulging out of his head, Shinji collapsed on the side of the bed holding himself in pain in the fetal while Asuka fell over the side of the bed, knocking over the nightstand in her room, and scurrying backwards until she hit the bookshelf causing some rather books to fall on top of her head.

Shinji's voice cracking, "Asuka." He squeaked

"No! No! Get away!" She screamed again kicking her legs and wailing her arms in the air, her eyes were closed and she wasn't thinking straight.

"Asuka." Shinji's voice was now returning to normal, but his groin still in a good measure of pain, however his own personal pain had to wait for now as he tried to get pass Asuka's violent defenses. Dodging her feet and grabbing her fists, Shinji was finally able to get close to her. "Asuka stop, it's me Shinji!"

Asuka opened her eyes, she was still shaking terribly and her eyes were bloodshot with tears. "Shinji?"

"Yeah Asuka, it's me." Shinji gently released his grip on her wrists and sat down right next to her.

By the time Gendo and Yui made it to her room, Shinji had a shaking Asuka in his arms, talking to her gently and doing his best to ease her fears.

"Shinji, Asuka, what happened here, are you two alright!" Asked a very concerned Yui

"Everything's okay mother... We'll be alright." Said Shinji

Gendo and Yui looked on for a few more minutes and decided that they would leave the two in peace. "Come on Yui, let's go back to bed."

"Okay dear. Shinji if you or Asuka need us, don't hesitate to come and get us." Said Yui

"I will..." Shinji replied, and with that Shinji's parents returned to their bedroom.

"It's going to be okay Asuka." Shinji sat there with her trying to comfort her for nearly a half hour, "You want to go back to sleep now?" he asked

"No..." Asuka stated softly, "I hate going to sleep... I-I... I hate those... Nightmares. Every time I close my eyes... I see them..." Asuka started to cry again.

Shinji was scrambling for something to say to take her mind off of her pain, and then suddenly something came to him. "Hey Asuka, remember the first day of school when you came by to pick me up?"

"How can I forget, that was one of the most embarrassing days of my life." Asuka chuckled lightly, her tears subsiding.

Seeing that his plan was working he continued with the story, "Yeah I bet it was, you shouted in front of the entire class about how you grabbed my boner." He laughed

Asuka punched him in the stomach, but not too hard though. "Dumpfbacke, I didn't say that. I said I 'didn't' grab your boner."

"Oh yeah, I guess we tend to remember what we want to remember. It was pretty funny though you have to admit."

"Yeah I guess it was." Said Asuka.

She had gone over to Shinji's house to pick him up for the first day of school and of course he overslept, so she had to go to his room and wake him up. But, getting an up and personal view of Shinji's morning wood wasn't what she was expecting, she smacked in the face after he said he had an erotic dream about her and then that whole incident at school when she blurted out that she 'didn't' grab Shinji's boner. She laughed as she remembered the events of that day, and all the while she nuzzled her head tighter into Shinji's chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she liked the feeling of being cared for, it made her feel warm inside.

"Hey Shinji, remember what happened the next day? When I ran into you in the hallway?" She giggled

"Oh yeah... That..." Shinji's face blushed, as he clearly remembered what happened.

"We bumped into each other after you took your shower and then your towel fell off. You should've seen the look on your face; it was so red. Even redder than my hair." She laughed again

"Yeah, it wasn't one of my greatest moments." Shinji sighed

"I have to admit though, I was impressed." She said jokingly, expecting Shinji to lose his bearing and start stuttering, but to her surprise he didn't.

"Yeah, I kind of figured you'd like it." Shinji teased

Asuka punched him in the stomach again, a little harder this time causing Shinji to make an 'Oomph' noise as she did.

"Pervert." She chuckled

"Maybe, but I know you still like me." Shinji replied, unknowingly making Asuka blush somewhat. Even though she knew Shinji was joking, she did have feelings for him, but he was going out with Rei now and she didn't want to ruin his relationship with her. The three of them were close friends and she didn't want to risk destroying that, so she decided to stay quiet about her feelings for him.

"Are you okay?" she asked

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know, about earlier... I didn't mean to kick you in the balls."

"I know Asuka, I'll be fine. You're what's important to me right now." Said Shinji

Asuka's heart skipped a beat at hearing that and she blushed a little deeper. "Shinji, I'm sorry."

"There's no need for you to be sorry, I'll be okay, really... Asuka, it's 3:30 in the morning, are you sure you don't want to go back to bed?" asked Shinji

"I'm sure, just stay up with me... Please." Said Asuka

"Okay Asuka, I'll stay up with you." Throughout the rest of the extremely early morning, Shinji stayed up with Asuka in her room, holding her in his arms and talking to her while Asuka did most of the listening. Reminiscing about some of their more embarrassing moments together, well mostly his, while Asuka laughed at all of his misfortunes. She did feel a lot better at the moment, but within the next six hours, those pleasant feelings will be replaced with feelings of sorrow as the funeral for her parents were being held that day.

"O Lord, you who are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; look with compassion, we pray, upon all gathered here now, that our minds and hearts shall be at your command. Grant that this service of comfort, which we now hold in your name, may bring to all a sense of heavenly nearness and great trust in you. And may the peace of Christ, even the peace that passes all understanding, abide with us and rest upon all these dear ones. We ask you to heal the broken in heart and bind up their wounds; Mercifully look upon those who are at this time bereaved. Be near them in their sorrow, and let their sorrow draw them nearer unto you. Now that earthly joys and comfort fail, may the things unseen and eternal grow more real, more present, and more full of meaning and power. Let your strength sustain their weakness; and your peace, fill their minds with perfect trust in you. Dear God, as we stand beside these open graves, in this silent city of the dead, we commit these bodies to the ground, and we commit the spirit, together with every sacred interest of our hearts, into your keeping, praying that you will deal graciously and mercifully with each of us, until we too shall come to our final resting place, through the riches of grace in Jesus our Lord. Amen"

The priest had delivered the sermon beautifully as those attending the funeral service for Kyohko and Alexander Langley Soryu cried and mourned their untimely passing.

Hikari and Rei were sitting on either side of her trying their best to console a hysterically crying Asuka as the caskets containing the bodies of her parents were lowered into the ground. Everyone was there that day, the Ikari's, Horaki's, Ayanami's, Suzuhara's and the Aida's; all of Asuka's closest friend and their families. Misato Katsuragi and Kaji Ryoji were there too, even though Misato didn't know Asuka's parents very well on a personal level, she wanted to show Asuka her support and pay her respects, and Kaji came along with her to do the same.

Asuka's grandparents flew in from Germany to attend the funeral as well. When the news of her parents' death reached them overseas, her grandparents requested the courts to hand over custody of Asuka to them, however it was a pretty cut and dry case as far as the courts were concerned. Her parent's clearly stated in their will that the Ikari's would be the official guardians in regards to Asuka in the event of their untimely deaths until she was to graduate high school. Evidentially they didn't feel it would be right to uproot Asuka away from all of her friends and her school here in Japan, to stay with family that she didn't know very well in Germany, despite that fact that they would spend a couple of weeks every summer in Berlin with them. When the final judgment was passed, her grandparents protested at first but they eventually accepted the courts' decision, even though they still felt that they would provide better care for Asuka being her family after all.

After the caskets were buried and her parents were laid to rest, everyone threw flowers into the graves and slowly started to make their ways back to their cars, while the Ikari's along with Asuka and her grandparents stayed behind a little longer before eventually getting into the Ikari's family car and drove back home themselves, as the funeral reception was being held at the Ikari household. The drive along the way was silent.

Back at the house, the atmosphere was somber and quiet; Asuka retreated back to her room, wanting to be left alone. Gendo and Yui were speaking with Abigail and Franz, Asuka's grandparents, while Shinji was in the living room with all of his friends. Shinji and Rei had taken the spot on the love seat while Kensuke, Hikari and Toji sat on the couch.

"I can't believe it... I just can't believe that something like this could have ever happened." Said Rei, resting her head on Shinji's shoulder and hold his hand gently.

"I know, it's just so... So... So cruel and unfair, how could something like this happen to her. Asuka has never done anything to anyone, she's never hurt anybody." Said Hikari, her eyes watering with tears.

"I wish I just knew who those bastards were that did this, then I'd make them pay." Toji sneered angrily

"I never knew you felt that way about Asuka before Toji." Said Kensuke

"Hey man, Asuka's my friend. Sure we get on each other's nerves and we insult each other from time to time, but that's all in good fun. I mean we've all known each other for almost all of our lives man, I'd never wish anything like 'this' on her in a million years." Toji explained

"Hi kids." Said Misato, walking into the room

"Oh hello Misato." Said Shinji

"How is she?" She asked as she took a seat in the open chair by the couch

"She's still in her room." Said Hikari

"She's been in there a long time now, has anyone checked up on her?" Asked Misato

"No... She said she wanted to be left alone." Said Rei

"Oh..." Said Misato looking sad, "How has she been adjusting since moving in with you and your family Shinji?" She asked

"She's been doing okay for the most part, I guess... But..." Shinji trailed off.

"But what Shinji?" Asked Rei.

"I'm not really sure if I should be telling you guys this." He said

"Why not? I mean if she needs help man, you know we're here for her too." Said Kensuke

"Yeah but..." Shinji sighed, "She's been having nightmares."

"Well can you blame her? I'd be having nightmares too if something terrible like this happened to me." Said Kensuke

"Yeah but, I'm not really sure if there's actually anything we can do to help her with this. I mean, you can't control your dreams you know." Said Shinji

"True, but we can still be there for her during the rest of the day and help her cope with her loss." Said Hikari

There was a long moment of silence between the six of them until Misato stood up from her chair and proceeded to exit the living room, "I'm sorry but it's about time for me to leave now."

"You're leaving already?" asked Toji

"Yeah, I have to, there's school tomorrow and I have to finish grading all of your tests if you want your grades to be posted in time for the quarter." Misato explained, "Shinji, are you and Asuka coming back to school tomorrow with everyone else?"

"Yeah I think so, this whole week has been pretty bad for the both of us, but I think we should be going back tomorrow." Said Shinji

"Okay then, I'll you kids at school then." Said Misato as she waved goodbye to the children. Walking up to Kaji, who had joined the conversation with Gendo, Yui and Asuka's grandparents, she informed him that it was time for the two of them to leave.

"Oh okay, you still have those tests to grade?" asked Kaji

"Yeah, and I have to get them done by tomorrow morning so they can be posted on time." Said Misato

"Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Ikari, it's been a pleasure speaking with you, and to you two as well Mr. and Mrs. Langley." He courteously said his goodbyes taking turns in shaking their hands with everyone.

"You too Mr. Ryoji, take care." Said Yui.

"Goodbye everyone." Said Kaji as he waved and escorted Misato back to her car outside.

Asuka had been sobbing in her room for over two hours, still lying on her bed in her black dress, her pillow was wet from her tears and her eyes were puffy and red. Eventually she had just run out of tears to cry with and now she was just lying there, wallowing in her own grief.

[I hate this.] She thought to herself, [I hate feeling like this; I hate feeling sad and alone... I hate everyone...] Not only did she feel sad and alone, but she was also angry and jealous. She was jealous of all of her friends in the other room because they still had their mothers and fathers with them, and she was angry because she no longer had hers... And she hated them for it...

Just then there was a knock on her door, "Go away!" She shouted

The door to her room slowly opened anyway and an elderly woman's voice was heard from the opening, "Asuka dear?"

"Grandma!" Asuka exclaimed as she sat up sharply from her bed, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying again.

"Asuka, can I come in?" Abigail asked

"Sure Grandma."

"Asuka honey, everyone out there is worried about you."

"I know." Said Asuka, lowering her head

"You can't stay in your room forever dear."

"I know Grandma, it's just..." Asuka sighed, "I don't feel like seeing anyone right now."

"You miss your parents deeply..."

"Yes..." Asuka saddened

"We all do dear, especially your grandfather and I, but Asuka honey, that doesn't mean you should keep your emotions locked away like this and hide in your room all day. You don't have to be ashamed for crying in front of people, everyone understands perfectly well what you are going through." Abigail tried to comfort her granddaughter.

"No they don't, and besides I think I've cried in front of everyone enough." Asuka sniffled

"Asuka, you have many people here who love you and who care for you, if you ever need you can always turn to them. But remember that your grandfather and I are here for you too. If you are ever in need of us, all you have to do is call and we'll be on the first plane over to Japan." Abigail spoke gently as she hugged her granddaughter.

"I can't let you do that Grandma. I know how much money you spent on coming over here on such a short notice. You had to dip into your savings and now you're almost broke. I can't let you spend anymore otherwise you won't have anything left." Asuka said, feeling guilty about her grandparent's current financial situation

"Nonsense dear, your grandfather and I are quiet old and we have very little use for money nowadays, we simply don't have the energy or the drive to go out anymore like we did in our younger years. If you ever need us to be with you, don't hesitate to call us." Abigail explained

"Are you and grandpa still leaving tonight?" Asked Asuka

"Yes dear I'm afraid we have to; your grandfather's heart surgery is scheduled for the next two days from now and I'm afraid that it's something that we just can't put off any longer." She explained

"Is grandpa going to be alright?"

"Oh yes dear, your grandfather may be not be as young as he used to be, but he's still a strong and stubborn old man." She chuckled

"I hope so."

"Don't worry about us dear, we'll be just fine. But you have to promise that you'll take care of yourself."

"I will grandma." Said Asuka

"Good... The Ikari's are very good people, I understand now why your parents wanted you to stay with them. They love you very much." Said Abigail

"I know grandma, they have been really good to me."

"Especially their son, Shinji."

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked, her eyes widening a bit

"His parents told us how he's been caring for you since what happened. Always visiting you in the hospital, skipping school the last week to be with you and sitting up with you all night in order to help you with your bad dreams. He's even been making breakfast for you in the mornings to cheer you up. He cares deeply for you dear." Abigail smiled

"He's my friend grandma." Said Asuka, trying not to show her true feelings for him.

"Yes he is, a very good friend. You should be happy to be staying with him and his family Asuka. Your grandfather and I are."

"I am grandma... I am..."

"That's good dear."

"Grandma...?" asked Asuka

"Yes Asuka."

"What time are you and grandpa leaving tonight?"

"Our flight leaves Tokyo-3 airport at 10:30 pm, so I'm afraid that we may have to leave between 8:30 and 9:00 pm in order to get there on time. With all the traffic and the check in time and going through customs, I'm afraid we have to leave early."

"I just wish you could stay longer." Asuka hugged her grandmother tightly

"So do I dear, so do I... Well, shall we go and see the others then?" she asked

"In a minute grandma, I want to freshen up a bit first." Said Asuka

"Okay Asuka." Abigail kissed her granddaughter on the cheek, stood up steadily and walked out the door.

Asuka stepped over to her mirror and began to comb her hair, after a few minutes, she laid the comb down on the dresser, straighten out her dress, breathed in some air and finally walked out of her room.

"Asuka!" Exclaimed Hikari, shooting up from the couch and nearly tackled Asuka in a big bear hug. "I was so worried about you."

"I-I'm fine H-Hikari." Asuka stuttered

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." She smiled. Taking a seat next to Hikari on the couch Kensuke got up and took the empty seat in the chair so they could have more room.

"Oh Kensuke you didn't have to get up because of me." She said

"No it's quite alright Asuka, besides the couch is more comfortable, you should have it." Kensuke replied

"Thanks."

"Asuka, is there anything we can do for you?" asked Shinji

"No I'm fine, thank you Shinji." Said Asuka

"Are you sure?" asked Rei

"Yeah I'm sure."

The rest of the afternoon was actually quite enjoyable; Asuka and her friends sat around in the living room talking and joking about old times and about Toji made a fool of himself at school the other day when he made some passing, inappropriate, sexual comment about Miss Katsuragi's 'form fitting' dress, she happened to overhear it and sent him to the principal's office. Now he has been assigned to do clean up duty for the class for the next four weeks.

"Toji you are an idiot." Said Kensuke

"Well it's not like I intended her to hear it you know." Toji snapped back

"Yeah but she did." Said Hikari as she glared at him with dagger like eyes, causing Toji to cringe away.

"Ha-ha-ha! You know you two make a good couple." Said Kensuke

"What are you talking about?" Both Toji and Hikari said at the same time, and then blushed at the time as well.

"See, you even say each other's sentences." Kensuke retorted

"No we don't!" they said together again, this time causing the entire room to burst into a fit of laughter.

But all good things must come to an end, as the afternoon waned on; everyone started to leave the Ikari residence to return home. Saying their goodbyes, people started to leave one-by-one. Kensuke and his mother and father were the first to leave. Soon followed by Toji along with his parents and little sister and then Hikari with her parents and her little sister as well, finally Rei and her mother Lilith were the last to leave.

"Goodbye everyone, Asuka I hope I see you at school tomorrow." Said Rei

"Me too." Said Asuka

"Bye Shinji."

"Bye Rei." Said Shinji as Rei gave him a light kiss on the lips and then turned out the door; at that moment Asuka could feel a small lump forming in her throat.

"Goodbye everyone." Said Lilith

"Bye Lilith." Said Yui

"Bye Miss Ayanami." Said Shinji

"Asuka, I'm truly sorry about everything's that happened to you. I hope you start feeling better." Said Lilith as she gave her a quick hug.

"Thank you Miss Ayanami, I will." Said Asuka

Lilith waved goodbye to everyone in the house and headed out to her car where Rei was waiting for her, and drove home.

Dinner that night in the Ikari residences was extremely pleasant. The menu consisted of tempura chicken, fried fish, white rice, steamed vegetables, salad, and miso soup. It was a very hearty meal and everyone enjoyed it very much, people were laughing and having a good time. Asuka's grandparents would regale the Ikari's with amusing stories about Asuka as a little girl in Germany whenever she would go visit them with her parents.

"... And then Asuka was running around in circles in our back yard flailing her arms around in the air her like a raving mad man screaming 'Get them off me! Get them off me!' Ha-ha-ha, and then we had to turn the water hose on her, the bees finally flew away back to their nest I suppose but our poor little Asuka was covered in bee stings. Ha-ha-ha, I felt so sorry for her, she had to wear all of these bandages on her arms and the back of her head for over a week; but the one I thought was the most amusing was the bee sting right on the center of her nose. She looked like a cute, tiny little clown with a big red nose. Ha-ha-ha!" Franz delighted the small crowd as everyone laughed as the picture formed in their minds of Asuka fleeing from a swarm of bees as a little kid. Everyone of course except for Asuka, who just sat there with her fists clenched underneath the table and eyes shut tight, with a scowl appearing on her face.

"I'm glad you thought that was funny grandpa." Asuka said angrily, "Those bee stings really hurt you know."

"Aw, I'm sorry dear." Franz said mockingly as he lightly pinched her cheek, "Did I hurt my sweet little Strawberry Shortcake's feelings?"

"Uh, Grandpa..." Asuka blushed deeply, "I haven't been called that since I was nine years old."

"Strawberry Shortcake?" said Shinji, directing his question towards Asuka.

"It was just a silly old nickname okay." Huffed Asuka as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh don't feel so embarrassed about it dear." Abigail Said, "When Asuka was a little child she had the cutest little freckles you could possibly imagine. She looked just like that cute little Strawberry Shortcake doll we bought for her when she was three years old, so we started calling her our sweet little Strawberry Shortcake."

"Hmm..." Shinji muttered while leaning over the table taking a closer look at Asuka

Of course this made Asuka feel a little self-conscious. "What?"

"Hmm... Oh yeah that's right." Said Shinji as if he just remembered something important, "You did used to have freckles huh?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I had completely forgotten about that." Shinji laughed, "I can just imagine if you still had freckles now, you'd look really different."

"What? Are you saying you didn't like my freckles when we were kids?" Said Asuka

"No it's not that, I'm just saying that I'd think you'd look cute with freck..." Shinji stopped himself in mid-sentence after realizing what he had just said out loud, making both himself and Asuka blush, but also causing everyone else at the table to laugh at their expense.

A few hours later at the Tokyo-3 International Airport at 10:10pm...

"We will now begin boarding rows 25 to 15..." Blared a voice over the speaker system at the boarding terminal.

"Well, goodbye Asuka dear. You take care of yourself now." Said Abigail as she hugged her granddaughter.

"I will grandma, I hope I see you and grandpa again real soon." Said Asuka, getting a little misty eyed.

"I hope so too my Strawberry Shortcake." Stated Franz as he took his turn in giving his granddaughter a big hug.

"Let me know how your operation goes when it's over with okay." Said Asuka

"Oh we will dear, it shouldn't be too much trouble though, the doctors says it's just a routine procedure." Said Abigail

"Repeat, we are now boarding for rows 25 to 15..." Said the voice over the speaker system.

"Oh my, it looks like they're really moving the line right along aren't they." Said Franz

"Ooh, we'd better hurry honey." Said Abigail, "Goodbye Asuka honey, and thank you Gendo and Yui for taking care of granddaughter."

"No thanks are needed Abigail, it's a pleasure to do so." Said Yui

"Abigail, we really have to go." Said Franz as he started to haul their luggage over to the boarding terminal desk where the young lady in the airline uniform was checking everyone's tickets. With a last big hug for her granddaughter, Abigail waved goodbye to Asuka and the Ikari's and joined her husband in the boarding procedure, after a few short moments, the Langley's boarded the large international airliner along with about another 800 passengers. As the final passengers were seated the last of the preflight checks were finished, the jet engines revved up and started moving down the taxiway to the runway for takeoff. Waving goodbye to her grandparents for the last time as the she watched their plane take to the air, Asuka had a very strange and sickening feeling in the bottom of her stomach that this would be the last time she would see either one of them ever again.

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the Tokyo-3 International Airport control tower, a lone female figure in a long black trench coat grinned evilly as she watched the plane take to the sky.

"This is all too easy." She said to herself and pulled out a timer from her coat pocket and pressed a small button on the side of the device.

Underneath the main fuel tank of the airliner, a powerful explosive device suddenly activated to life and began to count down.

"In just twelve more hours, the Second Child's world will be even more devastated than before." Barbelo smiled as she placed the timer back into her pocket ascended into the sky herself.


	23. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

The bright red light being emitted from her alarm clock next to her bed showed that it was currently 2:45 am, and Asuka still couldn't go to sleep even though she was very tired and wanted to sleep. The problem was that she was afraid to do so, going to sleep would mean reliving that terrible day. Tossing back and forth underneath the covers, she stared into the darkness in her room and felt alone, the black emptiness of her room was frightening and she started to panic. The shadows in her room played with her mind and for a split second she could've sworn she saw something move across the wall on the other side of the room. Shooting up suddenly she could feel herself breathing heavily, even though nothing was actually physically wrong with herself. Her hand was clutched on her heart and slight beads of sweat trickled down her temples. Trying to calm herself down, she stared the spot she thought she saw movement originate from, slowly and shakily reaching over to her nightstand, she felt with her hand for the switch on the lamp next to her and turned it on. The only thing on the wall across the room was wallpaper, feeling stupid and embarrassed, she just couldn't take it anymore… She was tired of being scared all the time, and she was tired of feeling alone…

Gradually looking up her door, Asuka slipped her slippers on her feet and shuffled to the door and turned the knob. What the hell am I doing? She asked herself, however she didn't stop herself neither. Turning the knob and stepping out into the hallway, Asuka quietly closed the door behind her and stared at the door across the hallway. It was Shinji's room… It's not like it'll mean anything, I mean we're both friends right? We've done this before when we were kids, why would it be anything different now? She kept thinking to herself. Slowly making her way closer to the door, she hesitantly grasped the doorknob to Shinji's room and turned it quietly. Entering his room, Asuka could make out Shinji's figure in his bed; he was on his side and seemed to be sleeping quite peacefully.

Asuka stood in the doorway, looking intently at him as he slept and wondered if this was a good idea, she was about to change her mind and go back to her own room until Shinji suddenly stirred and turned on his back. Frozen in place, she stared at the sleeping figure in front of her, thankful that he was still asleep and turned, closing the door behind her. Returning to her room, she crawled beneath the covers and tried to force herself to sleep, rather unsuccessfully as she laid awake for the next three hours, rolling around under the covers and staring up at the dark ceiling above her. Wondering of what would have happened if she had the courage to actually step into Shinji's room.

Her eyes had just closed shut, as fatigue finally took over her body only to have them snap open again to the loud, buzzing sounds of her alarm clock on her nightstand. Smashing the alarm clock into a dozen pieces with her closed fist, Asuka slowly crawled her way out of her bed and made it to her dresser and mirror.

"Today is going to be a LONG day…" she groaned to herself.

Shinji and Asuka had finished breakfast earlier that morning and were now putting on their shoes to go to school. After everything that's happened to the two of them, going back to school seemed almost alien to them.

"Hey Asuka."

"Yes." She said as she slipped on her other shoe.

Shinji reached down into his pockets and pulled out a set of car key. "Father put your car in the garage, um… Do you want to drive to school?" He asked.

Asuka chuckled a little, "Actually Shinji, could you drive? I really don't feel like it this morning."

"Well, uh, okay, I guess. But you do know that I don't have a driver's license don't you?"

"I won't tell anyone, if you won't." She smiled

"Oh, uh okay Asuka." Said Shinji.

Coming to a screeching and jerking halt in the student parking lot, Asuka immediately jumped out of the bright red car, fuming out of her mind.

"Damn it Shinji, that's the last time I'll ever let you drive my car! Do you hear me?" she screamed.

"But Asuka I told you that I didn't have a license." Said Shinji as he turned off the engine and stepped out of the car.

"Not having a license and not having the ability to drive are to completely different things Shinji!" Asuka huffed as she stamped her foot on the ground.

"But I…" Shinji started to defend himself but was rudely interrupted by a very irate redhead.

"No 'buts' Shinji Ikari! I might have to replace my transmission now because of your sorry ass driving! I mean really, how can you go through high school and not even learn how to drive!" She hollered at him, causing Shinji to grimace slightly.

Suddenly noticing the growing crowd gathering around the two, both Shinji and Asuka decided to drop their current "discussion" and thought it would be a good idea to head to class.

"Hey look, it's Shinji Ikari…"

"I heard about what happened to her parents…"

"That's the pilot of the giant purple robot…"

"I heard that Asuka is living with Shinji now…"

"Hey, isn't that the guy from TV…"

As they were making their way pass the bulk of the student body in the parking lot, the faint whispers and quiet chatter could be heard, by both Shinji and Asuka; and as much as they tried to ignore the rumors and comments going around them, they couldn't ignore them all.

"She's so lucky to be living with guy like that, he's the hero of the city and he's so cute too…" Stated one girl to her friend just as Asuka and Shinji made their way pass the two, to the main doors of the school.

Just as quickly as this naïve young girl had made her statement, her face was met with an angry and powerful fist that belonged to one Asuka Langley Soryu. The force of the blow knocked the girl backwards on her rear, and her lower lip was split open, blood drizzled down her chin and it began to swell almost immediately.

"Lucky! Lucky? You think me living with Shinji is lucky? You think what happened to me was lucky? You stupid bitch, you don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Asuka exploded on the poor, frightened girl who was cowering on the ground.

"Asuka! Asuka calm down please! She didn't mean anything by it!" Said Shinji as he tried desperately to restrain Asuka from inflicting any more damage on the girl.

"How the hell would you know that you blödes arschloch? You're not her are you?" Asuka redirected her anger on Shinji.

"Asuka I'm just try…" Shinji started to plead with her but to no avail, as Asuka suddenly pushed him out of the way and stomped angrily into school.

"Oh just shut up Shinji!" She said as she rudely made her way by him.

Shinji sighed as he thought to himself, [Asuka I was trying to help.] As Shinji turned in order to help out the girl who Asuka assaulted, he was surprised to see Kaworu helping the bloodied girl to her feet. What was more surprising was that Kaworu had his left arm in an arm cast and sling.

"Here you go, you should really go to the nurse's office and have your lip checked out." Kaworu told the girl, who immediately followed his advice and was escorted into the school by her friend, who happened to be standing there the entire time, but who was just too stunned to do anything about the situation except to watch.

"Kaworu!" Said Shinji

"Hey Shinji, how are you?" Kaworu smiled

"Well I'm just fine, but what about you? I haven't seen you in over a week and you never told me about what happened to your arm." Said Shinji

"Oh yeah, well I was in the hospital for a major concussion and I got a broken arm during the attack by the 'aliens'." Said Kaworu.

"Really?"

"Yeah unfortunately." Kaworu said out loud, _"Well not exactly, it's just an excuse so I can explain why I haven't showed up to school for the last week."_ He communicated to Shinji telepathically.

"Oh…" Shinji answered and the two friends started making their way into the school. _"Pretty good story."_

"_I thought so, at least for now anyway."_

"_So where have you been this whole week anyway?"_

"_Watching over you of course, I told you that's what I'm here for."_ Kaworu answered as the two silently made their way to their respective lockers across the hall from each other amidst a sea of hero struck on lookers from both the student and a few of the teachers. _"I'm sorry I didn't make my presence known at the funeral for Asuka's presence, but I was there."_

"_Why didn't you just show yourself to everyone? I'm sure Asuka would've appreciated it."_

"_I didn't think it would have been appropriate, I don't even know her very well, besides from knowing who and what she is. I didn't want to intrude on such a private and emotional moment."_ Kaworu stated as he closed his locker and started to make his way towards classroom 3-B.

Shinji grabbed the last of his books and did likewise, heading towards the classroom. _"Still… I'm sure she would've appreciated the gesture."_ Said Shinji as he entered the class, with all eyes suddenly turning on him. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he could feel his face turning a light shade of red.

"Hey Shinji! Over here man!" Shouted Toji from his seat near the back of the class. He started to walk over to his desk but stopped suddenly when he spotted Asuka sitting in a desk next to the window. Staring outside at nothing with a saddened look on her face.

[That's the same seat Rei used to always sit in… Is she going…? Nah, it's just a coincidence, it has to be.] Shinji told himself, then changed directions and made his way over to Asuka instead. "Hey Asuka, are you okay?" he asked gingerly.

"No I'm not…"

"I can sit here with you if you want."

"That's okay Shinji… I'll be fine, go sit with Toji and Kensuke." Said Asuka, still staring out the window.

"Are you sure?" He asked

"Yes, I'm sure." She stated as she turned her head towards Shinji and forced a smile across her face.

"Okay Asuka…" Shinji replied as he reluctantly stood up from the desk he was temporarily sitting in and slowly made his way to his normal desk next to Toji and Kensuke. Looking over his shoulder occasionally over at Asuka who was still staring out of the window.

Asuka watched his reflection in the window as he slowly walked away and sat next to Toji and Kensuke, who almost immediately jumped up and started asking him questions about the Eva and what it was like to be the pilot and everything else you can possibly imagine. Fawning over him like a couple of little schoolgirls.

[Hmph, well at least they had the common decency not to act like fools at the funeral… Dummkopfs…] Asuka huffed to herself.

Sighing to herself Asuka then caught the reflection of Hikari and Rei entering the classroom and then a twinge of jealously ran through her as she saw Rei run over to Shinji and gave a great big loving hug. Shinji of course blushed slightly but otherwise was very receiving of her affection. Not being able to witness anymore, she simply just lowered her head into her arms folded across the desk and closed her eyes. Attempting to shut out the rest of the world.

On the other side of the world…

"This is your captain speaking, we'll be landing at Berlin International Airport in approximately 5 minutes. We would appreciate if all passengers would fold up their tray tables and return their seats to a full upright position as we prepare to land." Spoke the voice of the airplane captain over the intercom.

"Oh thank goodness, it's been such a long flight back home." Said Abigail tiredly

"Yes, we're not as young and full of life as we used to be." Franz chuckled, "But it was awfully good to see Asuka again.

"Yes it was, poor thing. She's been through so much."

"She'll be fine. The Ikari's seem to be very good people, and I have a feeling she'll be very well taken care of." Franz stated as the planes landing gear touched ground and the momentum of the airliner slowed.

Franz noticed his wife's gripped tighten on the armrest of her seat as the plane landed. "Don't worry dear, we're on the ground now. Nothing bad can happen to us." He smiled.

She smiled back at her husband of 50 years, "I know dear, but I've never really been comfortable flying. You know that."

"I know, but at least we'll home in about an hour once we pick up our bags and get a taxi."

"It'll be good to sleep in our own bed again."

"Yes it would." Franz agreed

As the giant Boeing 7Y7 was taxing in from the runway into the airport terminal, the counter on the small but powerful explosive device, underneath the fuel tanks, clicked away its final seconds.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0.

The device clicked, and the fuel tank of the airliner was suddenly encapsulated by a giant red ball of flames; shrapnel of metal from parts of the hull casing, and the wings flew apart in every direction. Fragments of glass sprayed the immediate vicinity, as the ball of fire grew bigger and more ferocious, plumes of jet-black smoke into the air and the shockwave from the explosion shattered the glass windows of the airport terminal. The terrified screams of the people inside the terminal were drowned out by the roar of the scorching inferno, just barely 100ft away. Smoke filled terminal and the fire, and emergency departments were immediately dispatched to the scene. Paramedics rushed over hundreds of people to the medical ward of the airport, and the more severe cases to the nearest hospitals. It took hours for the fire teams to squelch the blaze, however, there were no survivors… As was to be expected unfortunately. News crews were at the scene trying to get interviews from the witnesses of the incident and get official statements from the airport personnel and the airline, while the authorities were beginning to notify the next of kin of all the victims.


	24. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

Gabriel peered down upon the city from his perch atop the Tokyo-3 Trade Center, the tallest building in the city. With burning red eyes as he watched the human infestation of the Earth go about their day as any other. Dark clouds began to roll in from the sea and it was only a matter of moments before all of Tokyo-3 became assaulted in a horrific tropical thunderstorm. A small taste of what was to come. Shortly it would be time to put the last of his plans into motion, the precursor to the true storm coming ahead. The storm in which will be the end to all human kind. Tilting his head up towards the darkened sky as the rain came pouring down, enjoying the cool feeling of water as it ran down his face, and spoke to the one being whom he wanted to speak to more than anything… The one being who would no longer hear his words.

"When we are finished down here, you'll see that I was right about them. You'll see, and then you'll forgive us for what we had to do."Said Gabriel

Suddenly he felt the presence of another, at first, he thought that it may have Azrael, but something was wrong. It didn't feel like him, or anyone else to had chosen to follow in his holy cause. No… However, it did feel familiar… It felt dark and cold… Gabriel leapt from his high perch and sailed down towards the Earth below, landing on all fours with a powerful 'Thud' in an alleyway behind the Tokyo-3 Trade Center. As he slowly rose to his feet, the darkness of the alleyway consumed him, with only a single sliver of light penetration the vast void coming from a single street light, on the corner of the main business street just pass the opening into the alley. Standing tall and resolute, he slowly pulled forth from underneath his long coat, his shining holy dagger. Etched with Seraphim Runes on it silver blade which read 'He who has no faith, has no soul.'

"Easy now brother, there is no need for that." A voice said coming from the darkness

"We are not brothers any longer, come forth and show your face, stop hiding in the shadows like the disgrace you are." Gabriel spat

Stepping forward ever so leisurely, and into the only source of light, which shimmered in the pouring rain, an imposing figure slowly appeared. Crimson red eyes surrounded by the deepest black where the whites of the eyes should have been; porcelain white skin, and burning red hair that reached down passed his shoulders. His smile revealed perfect white teeth, with very sharp canines, which were slightly longer than they should have been. The smell of sulfur permeated the air with each step, leaving behind him a trail of burning concrete.

"Greetings my old friend, it has been a long time hasn't it?" said the figure.

"We are not friends Lucifer, we never were, even when you were once considered to be HIS most beloved." Sid Gabriel, tightening his grip on his dagger.

"Now, now, don't be like that. Let us not dwell upon the past, but instead let us gossip about the present and catch up with each other. How have you been? Busy from the looks of it. Oh yeah, and call me Luke, Lucifer sounds to formal." Said Lucifer, the first of the Fallen of God's Angels, and smiled

"Cut the bullshit, what do you want? You're not here for a friendly chat, so what are you up to?" Gabriel demanded to know

"I should be asking you the same question brother…"

"I told you once already, we are NOT brothers. You rebelled against HIS light, HIS Holy name, and attempted to seize the throne of heaven for yourself; and for that you were cast down to the pits of Hell where you belong." Said Gabriel

"Yes, and now I have my own throne, of my own design. It's quite beautiful and awe-inspiring actually, would care to see it?" Lucifer said jokingly.

"What do you want!" Gabriel shouted, getting far angrier than he expected to become in the Fallen One's presence.

"Now, now Gabriel, you need to lighten up a bit, so much anger and stress can cause health problems you know." Lucifer laughed

"I'm not going to ask you again…" Gabriel spoke with venom, and his dagger began to glow with a holy light. It grew into a divine sword, and the silver blade became fire.

This time, all the humor left Lucifer's face and he became even more terrifying as he glared at the Angel who would dare raise a weapon at him. "Put that thing away, you and I both know that you can never defeat me on your own."

"Perhaps; perhaps not, but I can certainly fight you to a standstill. For all eternity if need be." Gabriel smirked

"Really? Would you now? And miss your one and only opportunity to wipe out the human race once and for all, and to seize the heavenly throne for yourself." Said Lucifer

"That is not my goal Lucifer. I am not like you; I have absolutely no intention to seize God's throne." Gabriel said

"Oh, and what do you really plan on doing should your forces ever break down the Holy Gates? Huh? Give yourselves up in HIS presence? You know that if you ever should make it passed Michael's Army of loyal Angels that God will cast you down as he once did me. Except this time, you will be bowing before me in my realm." He smiled, revealing his fangs once again.

"That will not happen; he will see what we fought for. He will see that we did this all for him and for our brothers and sisters who have died and suffered in this war. He will come to see the light once again as he had in the past before Lilith gave birth Man. He will love US above all else once more and we will be forgiven." Gabriel stated; absolute in his on conviction.

"On the contrary Gabriel, for you are exactly like me. You have lost your faith in HIM and he will cast you down from his grace. The only difference between you and me however, is that you will forever wallow in your own suffering having lost HIS love. I on the other hand never did, quite the opposite in fact… I revel in his anger." Lucifer spoke smiling to himself as he looked up towards the Heavens.

"We are nothing alike, I am doing this for HIM and for US…"

"Bullshit, you're doing this for yourself, and nothing more. You are doing this because you are jealous of man and the sacrafices that HE has made for them. You are angry because HE has given chance-after-chance, one opportunity after another to redeem themselves. You thought that Third Impact would be the end of them and that God would finally let them die. But when the Third Child chose over death, God granted his deepest of wishes and gave the entire human race another chance, yet again, to prove themselves worthy. That is the truth, and you couldn't stand it anymore. So you enlisted the help of half his Angels into YOUR CAUSE! You convinced them that somehow HE had fallen from grace and that it was your duty to bring HIM back into the light. As if you were the light to begin with. The gaul to think that you knew more than him!" Lucifer shouted.

"And what of you!" Gabriel shouted back

"Me?" Lucifer chuckled. "I was never delusional into thinking that I knew more than he did, in truth I knew exactly what he would do. Because it was a part of HIS plan." Lucifer smiled

"What?" Gabriel was taken aback by this. "What are you talking about?"

"Gabriel… Poor, sweet, innocent Gabriel… Don't you get it? He created me to be his opposite in Heaven from the very beginning." He said

"I don't believe you…" Said Gabriel

"Of course you don't, but that doesn't matter. That is the truth whether you believe it or not."

"And why should I believe you, you are the Prince of Lies. God first created Adam we came from him, and in this God loved us and brought us into his light and loved us above all others." Said Gabriel

"That was before Lilith gave to Man. God looked down upon Man and saw the flaws that were within him and his heart went out to him. For Man was not a divine creation like Adam's. With all of his potential for good, he also saw his potential for evil, and the torture upon his soul. The confusion and fear nearly destroyed him, so Lilith sacrificed herself to save her children, and in doing so; she gave her children the will to live, to strive forward in order to become better than himself. Thus is when God fell in love with Man and put him first above all others… Including his most loyal Angels." Lucifer said plainly.

"Don't preach to me of the beginning days of Man, I know, I was there. It was a mistake to allow human kind into creation and to give them free will." He said

"Oh, then why was it that he chose me to be the vessel, to pit Man against his own inner demons, to choose between the light and the dark. Why was it then that he chose me to become Satan, the embodiment of Evil so that Man may be tested, to reveal his true soul. For it is only through choice that we really discover who we truly are on the inside. Through pain and suffering that, we come to appreciate life… I never had any intentions on sacking the throne of Heaven, I was meant to be cast out, and hated, and feared among both the Humans and of our fellow brothers. It is my purpose, and I must admit, I enjoy it very much." Lucifer smiled

"Again, I don't believe you. You are known for your lies and deceit. No words that spring forth from your mouth can ever be trusted." Said Gabriel

Lucifer looked upon Gabriel and simply shrugged, "Whatever, believe what you wish to believe my brother. But know this, your plans will fail. Adam has chosen to bond with the Third Child of his own will. Our progenitor has become one in the same with Lilith's children. Destroy Adam, and you may very well destroy yourself, and when you fail, you will not be forgiven. God has granted Mankind a second chance because of the heart of the Third Child, and you are trying to undo what HE did. No, you will not be forgiven; you will be cast down below to my realm where you will kneel before me as your new master…" Said Lucifer.

"I will prove you wrong Lucifer, you will see, I will prove you wrong and we will all be in his grace once more. Maybe even you, even though you don't deserve it, he may even forgive you." Said Gabriel

"We will see, heed my warning to you my brother… Although; I will admit, I do look forward to seeing you Hell, kneeling at my feet like an obedient dog." Lucifer spoke for the last time and stepped back into the shadows.

As his form disappeared, a cloud of sulfuric smoke exploded and a swarm of flies sprang forth, forcing Gabriel to duck and cover himself with his jacket. The flies exited the alleyway in a menacing dark cloud, and eventually faded away in thundering rain. Gabriel rose to his feet once again, enraged by Lucifer's audacity. Extinguishing his blazing blade, the sword began to shrink and return to its former size. Now only a simple dagger again, Gabriel retuned it to its sheath inside his coat. Looking out onto the street, he spoke aloud to himself. "You will see Lucifer, you will see… And when I am proven right I will make sure that God does not forgive you, and that you will spend the rest of eternity in Hell where you belong."

Gabriel shot into the air and flew to the same vantage point on top of the Tokyo-3 Trade Center where he was before.

"_Azrael, Barbelo, report now…"_ Gabriel summoned

A few moments later, his two most trusted lieutenants descended from the sky and landed elegantly behind him.

"Yes sir, what is it that you need of us?" Azrael asked

"It seems that we may have a problem." Said Gabriel

"What would that be?" asked Azrael

However before Gabriel could answer, Barbelo wrinkled her nose in disgust as the air seemed to smell foul to her, despite the down pouring rain. "What is the awful stench?" she asked

"My my dear would be sulfur." Gabriel said simply

"Sulfur?" Suddenly Barbelo's eyes went wide, "Lucifer! He was here!"

"Yes, not too long ago." Said Gabriel

"What the hell did he want!" Barbelo exclaimed

"Truthfully, I don't know, he never actually explained why he was here. He simply implied that we would fail in our mission." Said Gabriel

"Fail? Do you suppose he plans on interfering with our campaign?" she asked

"Most likely…" Gabriel said as he looked over to Azrael, who seemed to be in deep thought. "Azrael, what's on your mind?"

Azrael sighed heavily and looked between both Barbelo and Gabriel, "I was just thinking is all…"

"About what my love, now is not the time to be silent." She said

"About Lucifer and what he could possibly gain from being here…" He said

"Any ideas?" she asked

"Well that's just it… He would have nothing to gain from interfering, nothing at all. In fact he would lose." Said Azrael

"How so?" said Gabriel

"Lucifer has wanted the destruction of human race for a long time, even longer than us… To do so would bring God to tears. If he were to sit back and do nothing while we end all of humanity, it would be exactly what he wanted to do in the first place. Wiping out humanity would bring him one-step closer to overthrowing God in his eyes. Not only that, but by damning their souls his army in hell would grow, if Third Impact were to occur as we plan it, then those humans involved would be cast in the fires of hell for all eternity. So why would he want to step in and get in the way?" Azrael said, then suddenly going quiet, in deep thought once more.

"Go on my friend, please continue…" Said Gabriel

"I'm not sure… That's what bothers me… He has no reason to." Said Azrael

"We may have no choice but to move up our time table." Said Gabriel

"Are you sure?" Azrael asked

"Yes…Inform Dardariel, Elyon, and Puriel to be ready; and I want the two of you to be prepared to handle Tabris." Gabriel commanded.

"So, the traitor will finally get his due." Barbelo smiled

"Yes, very soon now. Have the final loose ends with the Second Child been cut?" he asked

"Yes, she should b getting the news any day now." Barbelo smirked, sometimes she really loved her job.

"Good, I want the two of you to make preparations to deal with the Trinity." He said

"Finally, all will be coming to an end." Barbelo reveled.

"Yes, everything will finally be coming to pass." Gabriel spoke as he turned back down towards the city. "These little apes will finally meet the apocalypse that they deserve, and this time, none of them will survive."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hi, I've decided to list down the list of names of the Angels that I've already mentioned in the story so far. If I get any of the definitions of them wrong in some way, please let me know.

Gabriel: One of the two highest-ranking angels. He is the angel of mercy, annunciation, dreams, aspirations, bringer of news, maker of changes, resurrection, vengeance, death and revelation.

Azrael: The Angel of Death who is "forever writing in a large book and forever erasing what he writes: what he writes is the birth of man, what he erases is the name of the man at death."

Barbelo: Female Angel of abundance, goodness, faith, and integrity...Helps fill you with gifts and virtues.

Metatron: Chancellor of heaven, highest power of abundance, prince of the ministering angels. He is charged with the sustenance of mankind. He has been known as the link between the human and the divine.

Michael: One of the two highest-ranking angels, deliverer of the faithful, tutelary prince of Israel. An angel, who grants miracles, fosters mercy, repentance, truth, sanctification, blessing, immortality, patience and love to humankind.

Tabris: An angel of the sixth hour who presides over free will, self- determination, choice and alternatives.

Talia: Hebrew, Heaven's dew, name of angel.

Uretil: One who inspires writing... Inspires you to find the correct flow of your ability.

Ambriel: This angel inspires clear communication so that we might better speak our own truth, while gently guiding human beings toward a time when truth and clarity will be the universal norm. Ambriel is also considered to be an angel of general protection.

Jariel: An angel of divine face or presence, a variant form of Rziel, Suriel or Sariel.

Dardariel: Ruling angel of the eleventh hour.

Elyon: Ministering angel who brought the plague of hail upon Egypt.

Puriel: Angel whose name means "the fire of God;" angel of punishment.

Lucifer: Light bearer, son of the morning; former seraphim cast out of heaven, also known as The Devil, and Satan


	25. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

The Ikari's were sitting down at the table for their evening meal, Gendo and Yui at one end of the table, and Shinji and Asuka at the other. It had been three days since Asuka's parent's funeral and she was still obviously saddened by it, but the visit by her grandparents from Germany for the funeral had brightened her spirits more so than the Ikari's were able to. However, since they left to go back to Germany, something had been troubling Asuka and they didn't know what it was.

Yui watched her as she played with the food on her plate, sliding it from one side to the other, but never actually putting it into her mouth to eat. "Asuka honey, is something the matter?" she asked.

"Huh?" Asuka said, looking up from her plate

"Asuka are you okay?"Yui asked

"Oh… Yeah Mrs. Ikari, I'm fine…" said Asuka looking back down to her dinner plate.

"I'm sorry if I don't believe you dear. But since your grandparents left you've been, well… I don't know really… It's just, well… You just seem like yourself, you seem like you've been distracted or something." Said Yui

"WELL HOW THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO ACT! HAPPY!" Asuka shouted as she jolted up from her seat at the table. Alarming everybody and causing them to jump back in their seats. She gasped, suddenly realizing her outburst at the kind and gentle family that she known for years; the very same family that took her in. "I'm so sorry Mrs. Ikari, I didn't mean that... I just... I'm so sorry." Asuka said almost in tears and ran from the table towards her room.

"Asuka wait…" said Shinji as he got up from the table to go after her.

"Shinji…" Yui said

"Let him go honey, he might be able to calm her down." Said Gendo, holding his wife in his arm

"I didn't mean to upset her; I was only trying to talk to her." Said Yui, obviously distraught over the events which took place.

"I know dear, but for right now, let's just give her some space." Gendo said, trying to comfort her

"Alright, I'll back off." Said Yui as the phone rang from the kitchen.

"I'll get it." Said Gendo. Walking over to the phone, he picked up the receiver to hear someone speaking in broken with a thick foreign accent. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Yes, hello… My name is Captain Hans Gruenberg of the Berlin Police Department in Germany. Is this the Ee-Carr-ee residence in Tokyo-3, Japan?" asked the German officer over the phone.

"Berlin? Yes this is the Ikari residence." Gendo said anxiously, wondering what in the world a German police office would be doing calling Japan.

"Ah good, good; is there a Mr. Gendo Ee-Carr-ee or a Mrs. You-Ee Ee-Carr-ee available?" he asked

"I'm Gendo Ikari, how can I help you Mr. Grudenberg?" said Gendo

"Ah, Mr. Ee-Carr-ee, you are the legal guardian of a Miss Asuka Langley Soryu, correct?" he asked

"Yes I am, what is this all about?" said Gendo, getting more frustrated and nervous at the line of questioning.

"Mr. Ee-Carr-ee, I am calling to inform you that Abigail and Franz Langley, Miss Asuka's grandparents, were killed in an accident several days ago." Said Hans

"What…? Oh my god, that's terrible, what happened?" Gendo said, his eyes going wide at the news that Asuka's remaining family were dead.

"Well sir, we are still investigating as to the cause of the accident, as we have no other information currently to label it otherwise, however, their plane exploded on the runway at the Berlin International Airport as they were making the final approach into the terminal. Some reports are saying that it crashed into something on the runway, and others are saying that it just exploded for no apparent reason. As I said, we are only labeling it as an accident for now, but if we come across any new information that would suggest otherwise; we will you and let you know. Given your high status as a member of Nerv, we only see it as polite and given that, you are located all the way over in Japan." Said Hans

"Yes, of course... Thank you for calling… I really appreciate it, I'll let her know." Gendo said quietly.

"Yes… I read a report that her parents had recently been the victims of a brutal murder, am I correct?" he asked

"Yes…"

"Poor child… Anyway sir, the Langley's family lawyer should be contacting you sometime soon in the near future to discuss matters of the Langley's will and so forth." Said Hans

"Yes… Again Mr. Grudenberg, thank you for informing us." Said Gendo

"You're welcome Mr. Ee-Carr-ee. Goodbye." Said Hans

"Goodbye." Gendo said and hung up the phone, a heavy weight bearing down upon his heart.

"Gendo, who was that?" Asked Yui, worriedly

"That was the Berlin Police…" said Gendo

"Berlin? Gendo what would the Berlin police be… Oh my god, it's Asuka's grandparents isn't it? What happened?" Yui said with a bit of fear and apprehension.

"I'm afraid so… Their plane exploded as it was making its final approach on the runway at the airport. All of the 260 passengers plus the airplane crew was killed. The police are doing an investigation as to what really happened but they are not too sure for now. So, at the moment they're calling it an accident until something more concrete evidence can be found." Gendo told her solemnly.

Yui gasped and held back tears as her husband told her what had happened to Asuka's grandparents. [She's going to be absolutely devastated when she hears this…] "Oh Gendo… What are we going to do? She just lost her parents only a few days ago, if we tell her what happened to Abigail and Franz, it'll crush her." Said Yui with great concern

"I know dear, but we have to tell her what happened. She deserves to know." Said Gendo "The family lawyer should be getting in touch with us soon about everything, although I don't think Asuka is going to really give a damn about that part."

"Asuka…?" Shinji said softly as he knocked on her door.

"What…?" came a soft reply from the other side

"Can I come in?" he asked

"Sure…" she answered.

Shinji stepped in to see Asuka sitting on her bed with her head in her hands. "Asuka are you okay?" he asked

"No I'm not okay Dummkopf, what does it look like?" she said

"I was just worried about you that's all. The way you blew up in there I thought…"

"Blew up!" Asuka shouted, but then thought again about her earlier actions and calmed herself down. "You're right… I did blow up in there, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to your mother. Your parents have been nothing but kind to me… I was wrong to say those things."

"It's okay Asuka, I'm sure they understand." Said Shinji as he sat next to her on the bed

"No it's not okay, I yelled at your mother when she was only trying to be nice to me, she was worried about me and was just trying to talk to me and I yelled at her for no good reason…" Asuka said, feeling more and more ashamed at herself for her lack of self-control and display of emotions. "I really should go and apologize to her; I want her to know how sorry I am."

Just then a knocking came at the door, it was Yui. "Asuka dear, we need to talk… It's really important."

"Come in…" said Asuka

As the door opened both Gendo and Yui walked in, with sad looks in the eyes. "Asuka…" Yui started to say.

"Mrs. Ikari I am so sorry to have yelled at you like that. It's not me really, I was just upset, but it still doesn't excuse my actions. You've been so good to me since I got here and…" Asuka began apologizing.

"Asuka…" said Gendo, cutting her off. "We… We got some bad news."

"Bad news?" she said, confused. "Are you… going to kick me out?" She asked from genuine concern, suddenly rising from her bed, scared that she was actually going to be kicked out the house for what she said earlier.

"What? No! No Asuka it's not like that at all." Said Yui

"Then what is it?" she asked

"We… We got a call a few minutes ago… It was from the Berlin Police Department." Said Gendo solemnly

"Berlin?" said Asuka, her eyes suddenly getting wide. "Oh no… Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yes honey, I'm afraid… There's been some sort of accident…" said Yui not really knowing of how exactly to proceed.

"What kind of accident?" she asked, her heart pounding in her chest, terrified of the answer that was going to be given.

"Well…" said Yui, looking to Gendo

"Asuka… There's no easy way to say this… I'm afraid your grandparents… Well, I'm afraid they're dead Asuka." Said Gendo as gently as he could.

The only sounds that filled the Ikari household at that moment, were the sounds of a young girl's devastated heart, as she screamed the cries of a broken soul.

Kaworu Nagisa, kept his watch upon the Ikari household from his apartment's living room window. Kaworu had saved up enough money to pay rent for over eight months for the apartment. Originally, he had intended to use the money for his travels abroad before attending college. However, plans change, as do priorities. It wasn't a large apartment, far from it actually it was rather quite small. It was just the one room that served as a living room, bedroom and dining room; a kitchen and one bathroom with a shower. Not much to look at, but it was all he needed. Not long after he had rented the apartment that he bought the only items which currently occupied his living space. A single table with a chair, which sat by the window, a parabolic dish perched on the window sill that is capable of amplifying noise in the direction it was pointed at; and attached to that dish was a laptop computer with software installed in it to isolate and filter out unwanted background noise. If something was to happen, he would be able to hear everything going on inside the Ikari's house and then be there in moment's instance if he needed to be. Next to the dish was a set binoculars so he would be able to look directly into the Ikari's windows if he had too.

He came up with the idea of purchasing these items after the first few days of watching the Ikari's residence in the cold, chilly night air on the top of the roof of the apartment complex. It truly did make things easier. At least this way he didn't have to be cold every night and still be able to keep his vow in protecting Shinji at all costs, even if it meant his life. It also gave him time to do his studies, eat a meal and even use the toilet when he needed to and still be able to watch over him. The only other item in the apartment was a single futon mattress with a blanket and pillow, that rested in the middle of the room; and a pile of clothes in the corner. Kaworu didn't really care if the place looked messy, it's not like he was going to be having guests anytime soon. At the moment he was sitting by the window eating a bowl of hot chicken curry, with a small bowl of miso soup and a bottle of water and listening in on the Ikari's conversations at the dinner table. Nothing out of the oridinary, Asuka had recently moved in which made the conversations somewhat more interesting. He felt guilty for spying on the Ikari's like this, but it had to be done, he needed to make sure they were safe.

He never told Shinji about it because he believed that Shinji wouldn't understand and become upset that was being spied upon. Of course, when it was time to go to bed, Kaworu had to find a way to filter out certain types groans and moaning sounds which would emanate from his laptop's computer speakers. He had the unfortunate moment of accidentally picking up noises coming from Gendo's and Yui's bedroom while they were having "private time" with each other. He felt perverted about it, it wasn't that he wasn't interested about the subject of people having "private relations" as he referred it to, he was still a teenager after all and it was natural that a teenage boy would be interested. But to be quite honest, not only did he feel awkward and embarrassed, but he also felt somewhat dirty, after they started using some of the filthiest and the most lewd language he had ever heard, especially coming from Yui; which shocked him the most. The level of profanity, crass and filth that poured from her mouth during her "relations" with Gendo made Kaworu pray for her soul later that night; after he had successfully adjusted the software program. They certainly never used that kind of language in the orphanage, and he was a completely caught off guard by it.

Taking a quick peek into his binoculars, he could see the four of them sitting at the dinner table eating their meal, and he was here in his apartment by himself. He had to admit he felt lonely, but his own personal feeling came last. He had a duty to uphold. As the night went on, he listened in on everything that happened, Asuka losing her temper at Yui; Shinji trying to comfort her; the phone conversation that Gendo had with the German police officer… Everything…

"Poor Asuka… I swear Gabriel you'll pay for what you've done to the Second Child. I'll find a way." Kaworu said to himself.

Nearly half the night all he heard coming from the Ikari house were the sobs of a broken girl.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Shinji cursed himself for what had happened to Asuka's grandparents. He blamed himself for not being able to warn them about the apparent danger of getting on that plane. He blamed himself that failed Asuka, AGAIN. The first time he failed was his her parents, and now her grandparents. She had no family left… They were all gone and it was his fault. He could've warned them, he could've told her about what was going on. However, he didn't, because he felt that she was still too emotionally distraught over her parent's murder and thought that she still needed time to cope. But in doing so, he let her grandparents die as well. What the hell good was he if everyone around him keeps dying?

He laid there for hours, just staring up at the ceiling of his room, listening to Asuka cry and weep. Although, the house was now quiet. Looking over at the clock next to his bed, it read that it was 12:27am. [She must have cried herself to sleep.] He said to himself. Closing his eyes, he tried to get some sleep himself; that is until he heard his door slid open.

"Shinji." Came a quiet voice.

He looked over to see Asuka closing the door behind her. The room was dark, but there was just enough light that he could tell that the only thing she was wearing was a yellow tank top and blue panties. She lifted the blanket covering him and slid into his bed with him. Embracing him closely, Shinji could feel Asuka's breasts on his chest as she held him close and rested her head on his pillow, next to his.

"A-A-A Asuka, W-WH-WH-WH-What are you doing?" Shinji stuttered

"Shinji, do you find me attractive?" she asked quietly

"What? Do I find you…? Asuka are you okay?" Shinji's faced flushed, he could feel the heat rising from his face.

"Do you find me attractive?" she asked again in the same quiet voice.

"Well I-I-I uh, well I guess uh… I-I-I…" Shinji was completely flustered, and had absolutely no idea what to say.

"Shinji, just answer my question please… Do you find me attractive?" She asked for the third time, this time lifting her head and looking into his eyes.

Shinji could feel the heat from Asuka's body against his, and it took every, last, ounce of will not to give in to her right at that moment. He could feel every curve of her voluptuous body pressing against his and it made fantasize about the most vivid, and 'X-Rated' of things. Not to mention that 'Little Shinji' downstairs was to starting to wake up and wanted to take a peek out into the world for all to see.

"I, uh…" Shinji gulped, sweat beading off his brow. "Uh-I-uh, y-yeah A-Asuka." He gulped again. "Actually I-I do find you, uh, attractive; v-very much so." He couldn't believe the words were really coming out of his mouth.

"Kiss me…" Asuka said as he moved her face closer to Shinji's and lightly pressed her lips against his.

Shinji panicked and suddenly moved his faced away from hers. "Asuka what are you doing?"

"What's wrong?" she asked

"Asuka, you're not yourself. You're sad and depressed and you're looking for something that will make you feel better, you don't really want to do this with me, and besides I'm with Rei remember." Said Shinji, trying to bring Asuka, and himself, to her senses before they both did something they would later regret.

"Shinji, why do you assume that this is something I don't really want? Haven't you thought that maybe I do want this?" she said

"But…" Shinji said, at a loss for words.

"I just want something that was real, just for one night. I just wanted to feel like nothing bad could happen to me; that for one night I could open myself to something and feel… Loved… Just one night, I want something good to happen… Before everything ends." Asuka said softly and again pressed her lips a little more forcefully to Shinji's.

Sliding he leg across his thighs, Shinji moaned unintentionally at the sensation. Straddling his hips, she began to move her hands underneath his shirt, feeling his chest, and this time Shinji couldn't control himself. He surrendered to the passion and hormones racing through his body, and gave himself over to his desires.

Later, he stirred from his slumber to see that he was alone in his room; alone and still naked underneath the covers. Their clothes were spread about his room, Asuka's top and panties were entangled with Shinji's own boxers and sleepwear. Looking over at his clock it read, 03:56am. [It's still early in the morning.] He thought to himself. Suddenly an image of Rei flashed through his mind, and deep pangs of guilt flooded through his mind. [Oh god, what did we do? How could I do this to her?]

Glancing towards his door, he heard the faint sounds of the shower running in the bathroom. [We really need to talk about this.] Slowly putting his clothes back on, he quietly made his way out into the hall. Not wanting to disturb his parents, he tiptoed to the bathroom and lightly knocked on the door. All he could hear was the sound of rushing water spraying from the showerhead. "Asuka, are you in there?" He asked before mentally slapping himself in the head for asking such a dumb question. [Who else would be in there?] However, when no answer came back he knocked on the door again, this time a little louder, "Asuka we need to talk." Again, there was no reply, just the sound of the shower running. "Um Asuka, I'm going to come in okay… So don't be mad at me okay, but we really need to…" Shinji's words were immediately silenced at the horror that was displayed in front of his eyes. There before him was Asuka, unmoving, lying naked in the shower, the water running red beneath her, and her wrists slit open.


	26. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

"Where am I?" Asuka said out loud to no one in particular as she gazed upon her surroundings. A black void of darkness surrounded her as far as she could see, with the only source of light seemed to have no visible source as it shined down upon her. "What is this place?" she asked again.

"This is your world, and it is not." Came a voice from the vast expanse of darkness that surrounded her.

"What! Who said that!" Asuka said, turning to see a young girl, only a few years younger than she was, with long red hair like hers standing behind her; enveloped in her own circle of light. Dressed in a strange skintight dive suit of some sort, colored red with a pair of red hair clips on her head.

"Who are you?" she asked

"Don't you recognize me?" said the girl, with a cocky grin on her face and her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"What? I said who are you? I don't have time to play games." Said Asuka as she was starting to become annoyed at this girl.

"Well now, I think we have all the time in the world." The girl said and then suddenly the world around her flashed in a brilliant explosion of light.

Asuka covered her eyes for a moment and then looked at the world around her to see herself in the middle of the ocean. She looked around to find herself on a naval ship of some kind, from the looks of it; it seemed to be an old aircraft carrier, a real old one, from before the Second Impact. She could from her surroundings that this ship wasn't the only one either, there over a dozen ships nearby, battleships, carriers, and support vessels. She was standing on a ship in the middle of an entire fleet. Taking notes of all the markings on the jet planes and the ships themselves, it wasn't even a Japanese fleet, but a UN fleet.

"What the hell is a UN fleet doing in the middle of Japanese waters? At least I think these are Japanese waters…" She said to herself.

"This is the first time you met Shinji." Said a voice from behind her.

Asuka spun around to see the same girl looking at her and smiling.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?" asked Asuka

"Look." Said the girl as she pointed back behind her, and Asuka looked back to see younger versions of Shinji, Toji, Kensuke and Ms. Katsuragi at the other end of the deck. Kensuke seemed to be filming everything on a camera and Shinji and Ms. Katsuragi were just standing there and talking while Toji seemed to be on his hands and knees trying to lift a white hat from underneath the girl's foot. The foot of the very same girl that Asuka had spoken just a second ago, except this time she was wearing a yellow sundress.

"Let me introduce you, this is the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-2; the Second Child. Asuka Langley Soryu" said Ms. Katsuragi

Suddenly the wind kicked up, blowing up the girl's dress, exposing her panties for the entire world to see and the red headed girl slapped Toji, Kensuke and Shinji.

"Hey what the hell was that for?" yelled Toji

"That was the viewing fee, quite a bargain huh?" said redheaded girl in a sarcastic tone.

Meanwhile Asuka was standing back, watching all of this in fascination and disgust at the same time.

"This is not real, none of this ever happened. I was never on a UN Military ship, and I didn't meet Shinji and the other boys in the middle of the ocean. This never happened!" Asuka screamed

"Yes it did." Said the girl in the yellow dress; this time turning away from the boys and walking over to Asuka. "It all happened, just the way you saw it. This was the first time you met Shinji."

"No it wasn't! I remember the first time I met Shinji. We were kids, I just moved to Japan with my parents because they were offered an incredible opportunity to work for Gehirn. I was five years old, Shinji's parent's introduced us, they worked in the same place. I was five years old!" Asuka shouted.

"Yes that happened too, that was also the first time you met Shinji." Said the redheaded girl

"You're not making any sense, now stop playing around and answer me!" Asuka was livid, she knew she had seen this girl before, but she just could place it.

"Ugh, dummkopf! Look at me a little closer and then remember back about four years or so. Do I look familiar to you? Because I should, every time you looked into a mirror, there I was staring back you, your own reflection…" said the girl

Asuka suddenly realized what the redheaded girl was saying and her eyes widened in total shock and disbelief. "No… No it can't be…" said Asuka

"Ah so you've figured it out then?" Said the other Asuka with a smile on her face.

"You're not me! I'm me!"

"Yes you are, and so am I. I am you; and you are you. We are both one in the same person. We are both Asuka Langley Soryu." Said the other Asuka

"It's not possible." Said Asuka

"But it is possible, and it's happening right now." Said the other Asuka

The world around her faded away and returned again, and this time she was with the younger looking Shinji, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, and Rei, along with Ms. Katsuragi and a weird looking penguin in an apartment. She could only assume it was Ms. Katsuragi's apartment because none of them were old enough to have one.

"Wait a minute what the hell is Shinji wearing?" she said to herself when she spotted the younger Shinji, sporting a tight black leotard and a retro looking cutoff shirt, shirt musical notes patterns on it and wearing a set of headphones. In fact, there also seemed to be some sort of strange light-up floor mat game with big dots on it. "Is that a touch pad or something?" She said more to herself.

"Something like that, yes." Said the voice of the other Asuka, whom she just noticed standing next to her, wearing a similar, disgusting strange looking outfit. "This was the first time you and Shinji moved in together with Misato. You had to train together to fight the Angel, but neither one of you could do it alone, so you had to train to synchronize yourselves to one another's action perfectly."

"What the hell are you talking about? I never moved in Shinji when I was younger, and especially not with Ms. Katsuragi." Said Asuka.

"Yes you did, this was when you were both training for you very first mission together to fight the Angel that had attacked the city only a few days earlier." Said the other Asuka

"What Angel!"

Again the world around shifted once more to a place outside the city of Tokyo-3. And standing in the middle of this place was a giant monster, silvery-white in color for the most part, smooth curved upper body with what appeared to be two arms and legs, standing upright; and in the center was sphere for a head, separated in blue and red in the shape of a yin-yang.

"Is that one of the aliens that attacked the city?" Said Asuka

"It's not an alien, it's an Angel." Said the other Asuka

"Angels don't exist, everyone watched the attack on the news, those were aliens that attacked Tokyo-3." Said Asuka, enraged by this 'younger' self.

"They're not aliens, that was simply a cover story released by the governments of the world to cover the real truth." Said the younger Asuka

"Oh? And what is the truth then, that those giant monters that killed thousands of people were not aliens, even though it's quite obvious that they are, but in fact they are Angels. Angels from heaven sent down to earth to destroy mankind!" Asuka yelled

"Yes…"

"What?" Asuka blinked

"They are Angels, plain and simple… Look, this is where you and Shinji fight it together…" said the younger Asuka

Asuka watched the battle in front of her, and what she saw blew her mind, the giant 'Angel' as her other self put it was fighting another pair of giants, a red one and a purple one; working in perfect synch with each other, almost like a ballet. She had seen the purple one before, on the news when, as it turned out, Shinji had piloted that one to fight the two monsters, 'Angels' that attacked the city and killed thousands of lives. Shinji became an international hero and icon, a genuine superstar of sorts. However, she had never seen the red one before.

Suddenly an image flashed in her mind, of her… She was deep within a volcano, inside of the giant red robot. The heat around her was so incredibly intense she almost felt like passing out. Everything around her was red, she couldn't see any other color, and she could remember the fear, the intensity of the moment as she plunged the progressive knife wielded by her robot over and over again into the Angel's skin… But to no avail. Then she had the idea of cutting her coolant cable, which fed coolant directly to her robot, the sudden temperature change altered the Angel's density within the lava and made it vulnerable, and she plunged the progressive knife into again, and this time with success. The blade went deep inside the body of the Angel, piercing the core, its S2 Engine, killing it and she watched as it slowly disintegrated with the molten lava.

"… My Eva… Unit-2…" Asuka said to herself.

But, the memory kept going, her Eva was falling, the cables were cut and she couldn't rise to the surface. But then, she felt a sudden jolt, her Eva had stopped falling… It was Shinji, in his Eva Unit-1. Ho dove, with his Eva, into the molten core of the volcano to save her. His Eva was not protected by the D-Type suit as hers was, his Eva could've been destroyed within minutes… He could've been killed… But he didn't care, he had ricked everything to save her. And she actually smiled, and looked at him with pride and respect… And something else, was it gratitude? She couldn't tell.

"You're starting to remember aren't you?" asked the younger Asuka

"How… How is this even possible? There can't be two lives… There can't be two realities… It's just not possible… How could any of this have happened and none of us had known about it?" she said

"Because he stopped it from ending, Shinji stopped it, and gave the world a second chance. As much an idiot he may be at times, in the end he proved that there is always a choice. And he chose life… Our lives and our happiness were important to him, and he gave us that life so that none of this could ever have occurred." Said the younger Asuka

"I don't understand…" said Asuka

"You will, that's why I'm here… That's why we're both here…" said young Asuka, as the light around slowly faded away, and nothing was left except for just the two of them, surrounded by a black void of darkness.

"My wrists hurt…" Asuka winced as she rubbed them

"That's because you tried to kill yourself."

"What? No I didn't… I would never do that… Would I?" Then she remembered, Shinji was sleeping soundly next to her. She looked at him with tear-filled eyes, one last good thing before everything ended. She rose slowly and quietly so not to wake him. Making her way to the kitchen, she quietly picked up a kitchen knife and then made her way to the bathroom; she closed the door and turned on the shower. Stepping into the shower, she let the warm running water run down her naked body, relaxing and soothing her muscles.

[At least, I got to have him… On my last night…] She couldn't tell if what she felt next was the hot spray from the shower running down her cheeks, or her tears. Nevertheless, she had made her decision, and she wanted peace. Everything had just been too much for her, she couldn't take it anymore… She rose the knife to her wrist placing the warm steel on her skin and braced herself, but it wasn't as painful as she would've thought. It felt like no more than a sharp sting across her skin, and she wondered for a second if she had done it right. She looked down to see red blood gushing from her wound, and she smiled sadly, and did the same with her other wrist. After doing so Asuka slowly sat down in the shower and closed her eyes, and let herself drift away in fond memories of her childhood.

"My god… I did… Didn't I? I killed myself…" Asuka said and began to cry.

"Maybe, maybe not… But I'm still here, which means that you still have a chance." Said young Asuka

"What do you mean?" said Asuka

"It's your time now, they think they've beaten you. That you've been broken, that your soul is lost… But it's not, you're not… I am not. We are stronger than that, we always have been. You just forgot yourt past, you forgot what you're capable of, but I haven't and I'm here to help you remember, so you can help save the world." Said young Asuka, dressed in her red plug suit once more.

"From what…?" Asuka sobbed

"From them… The Angels… They're back…"

"But I'm scared… I've never been this scared before, I feel so alone… I've lost everyone! How can I possibly go on… Please tell me, I don't know what to do…" She fell to her knees, crying uncontrollably now, all of her inner pain and suffering came rushing to the forefront. Young Asuka held her in her arms as a mother would hold a grieving child and comforted her.

"Shh… Don't worry Asuka, I'm here now, and with my help, no one is ever going to hurt you like this ever again." Said young Asuka. "It's time now…"

"Time for what?"

"It's time for you to remember…" With those words, her entire past life came to her, like a play everything that happened to her in that other life, the life that never happen, but did happen… All of her suffering, all of her pain, all of her joys and triumphs and failures. Everything that was her and not her came back…

Asuka Langley Soryu was whole once more…

"We are now one…" The voice of Asuka echoing in her mind, her voice… She remembered…


	27. Chapter 26

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

Shinji was cursing himself as he waited with his parents in the waiting room of the hospital. This is the second time in as many weeks that Asuka has been in this place. The first time was because of her being attacked when her parents were murdered, and now because she tried to commit suicide. He sat on the hard plastic chair; his shirt was still wet and soaked with blood... Asuka's blood… It was a quarter till five in the morning and Asuka has been in surgery for only about a half hour.

[Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!] Shinji cursed himself. [How could I let this happen! I should've known something was wrong with Asuka! I should have known! How could I just let my hormones get in the way like that! How could I be so stupid? How can I protect everyone in the world if I can't even protect my own friends? I'm useless…] The same feelings of uselessness started to wash over as they did before, before his revelation of Third Impact, or more precisely, the Non-Third Impact. When he; in his other life, recreated the world so that everyone in his life could experience happiness and joy. He wanted everyone to live normal lives, but now, everything is falling apart, the Angels were back, people were dyeing and Asuka in lying in a hospital Operating Room. [I can't even help my best friend… What good am I…]

"Mr. and Mrs. Ikari?" came a voice from outside the lobby.

All three of them looked up and saw a familiar face; it was the same old doctor that had originally treated Shinji and Asuka from before. In his heart Shinji had hoped to never see the old man again, not that he didn't like the guy, he was a nice old man, but he just didn't want to be in this place anymore. He was dressed in a traditional looking surgeon's robe with blood stains on them, a hair cap or whatever it was called, and latex gloves which he was now pulling off his hands.

"Doctor, how is Asuka? Is she going to be okay?" Yui asked with tear filled eyes.

"She's going to live." Said the doctor as the Ikari's felt a sense of relief come over them.

"Is she awake? Can we see her?" Asked Shinji eagerly, wanting to see his friend.

"No, not yet; she's still asleep from the anesthetic. However, she should recover from it in a few hours. She's lost a lot of blood and we've had to replace it, but she'll be fine. We were lucky actually." Said the doctor

"How so?" asked Gendo

"Well the blade she used to slit her wrists was sharp and it cut deep, however, she cut her wrists horizontally instead of vertically. Had she done so vertically, we would have been too late to save her life." The doctor stated

"I don't understand, how is that lucky?" asked Yui

"Well, to put it quite simply, the arteries in your wrists run vertically and when you cut them, it is far more efficient to cut them vertically; from a completely medical standpoint you see. But when you try to cut them horizontally, you have to cut through the layers of cartilage and bone in order to get to your arteries. It's possible but you have to put more effort into it. But when you do it vertically, you actually cut in between them instead. Again this is from a medical standpoint only, I would never advise anyone who is trying to commit suicide on how to it properly." Said the doctor

"But she is going to be alright…" said Shinji

"Yes, at least physically. She's going to have to stay here in the hospital for a while for her to heal properly. Mentally however, that's a whole different story. I've requested that she'll be put on a suicide watch. She'll have a guard outside her room at all time and nurses will check in on her constantly. Plus there will also be a psychiatrist assigned to her to make an evaluation of her mental state." He said

"Is that really necessary doctor?" asked Yui

"I'm afraid it is Mrs. Ikari. With her recent history; her parents being murdered in front of her, and with what you told me earlier when she was brought in about her grandparents being killed… And of course with her suicide attempt…" The doctor trailed off

"We understand doctor." Said Gendo

* * *

Kensuke was typing furiously away on the keyboard of his school issued laptop, his excitement bordering on madness. "Oh man I can't believe this, this is so cool." He said to himself.

"What is?" Asked Toji

"The Eva, man." Kensuke said simply

"Huh, what website are you on?" he asked

"It's a forum about the Eva, they're people from all over the world talking about it."

"Then what's so cool about it? I mean it's just people talking about it, it doesn't mean that they actually know anything. If you really want to know more about it then you should ask Shinji. He's the one who pilot's it you know." Said Toji

"Oh man, you don't get it do you?" Kensuke smirked. "Some of these people who are on this forum are actually from Gehirn… I mean Nerv, now that they've been taken over and stuff, anyway, some of these people on the forum are the actual scientists that are studying and running tests on it and stuff." He exclaimed

"Uh-huh… And what makes you think that these "scientists" are the real deal anyway man. I mean, they could just be lying about themselves in order to draw attention you know." Said Toji, doubtful about the authenticity of the 'sources.'

"I don't think so, well not all of them anyway, but there are some that sound like they know what they're talking about. For instance…" Kensuke said as he brought up the page he was looking for. "Look at this one man, this person here says that the Eva is actually a living creature underneath the armor, it has a body structure similar to human and that the DNA sequence is ninety-seven percent the same. Everyone else was saying that it had to be some sort of giant robot that was secretly constructed by the government. But this person says that they actually found it orbiting on the dark side of the moon!"

"Okay…" Toji said raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Then there's this one, it says that the monsters that attacked the city weren't actually aliens, this person says that the 'monsters' were actually creatures from another dimensional plain of existence and that the UN along with the Japanese government have dubbed them as 'Angels.' I mean come one man, not all of this has to be false." Kensuke said

"Uh-huh? Nevertheless, I again must ask the same question… What makes you think that this person is the real deal? Have you asked Shinji or his dad about the Eva? Unless it comes from either one of them, I'm not going to believe anything on the internet that talks about it." Said Toji

"Alright fine then, when Shinji comes in this morning I'm going to ask him." Said Kensuke

"I'm surprised you haven't already." Toki smirked

"Hey man, with everything that's been going on since those monsters attacked the city, I just didn't think it was all that proper you know. First Shinji gets hauled off to Gehirn, gets interrogated, then Gehirn gets taken over by Nerv and is now a part of the UN military, which makes it even harder for Shinji to talk about stuff. Then everything thats happened with Asuka and her parents getting killed right before all of that, and her having to move in with Shinji's family and stuff. I mean that's a lot of things in a fairly short amount of time you know." Said Kensuke

"Hmm, I guess you're right, it hasn't been that long either since those attacks occurred now that I think about it. Hell, it's been less than a month actually…" Toji said, now in deep thought

Just then, Hikari and Rei came into the class. "Hey guys, what are you two talking about now?" Said Hikari as she spotted Kensuke typing away feverishly on his keyboard.

"Well Kensuke has been has been on the internet researching about 'Big Purple' and trying to convince me that the Eva is some sort of living creature and that the aliens are actually 'Angels' or something like that. To tell you the truth I kind of blocked some of it out." Said Toji

"What? Again? Kensuke why don't you just ask Shinji about the Eva when he comes in class today. I'm sure he must know a lot more about than some people on the internet." Said Rei as she and Hikari took their seats.

"That's what I said." Said Toji

"Yeah Kensuke just ask Shinji, I mean he is the only person to pilot it and he does have access to Gehirn you know. I'm sure he know a lot of stuff about the Eva. He's a much more reliable source than people on the internet."Said Hikari

"Number one…" Kensuke began as he straightened in his chair and adjusted his glasses, "Gehirn doesn't exist anymore, it was officially taken over by Nerv some time ago and is under the authority of the UN… Number two, I don't appreciate the level of skepticism being portrayed from everyone. I think that I am intelligent enough to figure out the lies and falsehoods about the Eva unit, from the truth on my own … Number three, why can't you guys just let me have my fun anyway. It's not like that my enthusiasm over the Evangelion is hurting anyone, nor is it that I'm pressuring anyone to believe in the same things about the Eva as I do. If you choose to believe it, then all the better, but if not then so be it. In other words, kindly leave ME, and my fanboy enthusiasm about the Eva alone please… Thank you." Kensuke snorted and went straight back to the screen on his laptop.

"Well then, I believe we should leave Eva's number-one fan alone for the moment, what do you think girls?" Said Toji

"If Kensuke chooses to be rude about then fine, we should just let him be alone with it then. I mean we were only trying to be helpful about it and give him some suggestions about the thing that's all. Let the fanboy have his fantasy." Hikari huffed and turned in her seat.

"I can still hear you, you know." Kensuke said, not even bothering to life his head over his laptop screen.

Before Hikari could fire back however, Misato, who was dressed in a form fitting black halter top with a nearly form fitting white blouse and skin-tight jeans, walked into class to begin the day, and Hikari, being the class rep performed her duties without hesitation. "Stand! Bow! Sit!"

"Good morning class." said Misato.

"Good morning Miss Katsuragi." The class replied in unison, the boys of course, saying it with more energy than the girls, as their eyes couldn't themselves but to glaze over dreamily in awe of the hottest teacher in all of Tokyo-3.

"Ugh… Men" said Hikari in a whispered tone.

"Now before we begin the class today I want to start out by saying that I received a phone call this morning from Shinji's mother, and she informed me neither Shinji nor Asuka would be coming in to class today." Said Misato

"Ms. Katsuragi, did she say why?" asked Rei, who was now a little concerned over why Ms. Katsuragi would even be making an announcement like this unless something had happened to them.

Misato sighed and lowered her head slightly before looking back at the class, "She wouldn't go into details, but she did say that Asuka was in the hospital currently undergoing surgery."

The class gasped…

"Oh my god, what happened?" said Hikari

"Like I said, Mrs. Ikari didn't go into any detail about what happened, but from the way she was speaking she sounded very distraught over it. I suggest that everyone who wants to, to go and visit her at the hospital after school today. I'm sure she would appreciate it very much." Said Misato.

* * *

Shinji was sitting next to her bed in the recovery room, Asuka was still asleep from her surgery and would not awake for the next few hours, the doctor had told him. But he insisted that he's be there for her and refused to leave. The doctor understood and informed the nursing staff. Gendo had to go into work and Yui had a few moments before to get something for them to eat. Shinji welcomed the gesture but doubted that he would be eating much.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Come in." Said Shinji and was surprised to see Kaworu walk in.

"Hello Shinji." He said

"Kaworu, what are you doing here?" Shinji asked

"I wanted to see how you were doing, and more importantly, how Asuka was doing." Kaworu stated, taking the seat in the corner.

"Well I'm fine… I guess, but Asuka… She hasn't woken up yet, but the doctors said she will be fine. They stopped the bleeding and were able to repair all the damage. But they're going to put her on a suicide watch, and have a psychiatrist take a look at her when she is well to do so." Said Shinji, his face an open book of sadness.

"You must not blame yourself Shinji; it was not your fault. You did not cause this to her, do you understand?" Kaworu said trying to console Shinji

"Of course it's my fault, everything is my fault. I wasn't there to help her, I wasn't there to stop them from killing her parents or her grandparents. If I can't even help Akusa, my best friend, then how can I possibly help the city, let alone the entire world, from the Angels? I'm useless…" Shinji said with his head slumped downwards.

All of the same negative feelings came rushing back to him as he thought of what was happening, however, all of those bad feelings suddenly stopped and were replaced by pain when he suddenly went flying across the room and crashed into the wall. Clutching the side of his face, it throbbed violently, he could feel it swelling underneath his palm and he looked up to see an enraged Kaworu glaring back at him.

Kaworu grabbed Shinji by the scruff of his collar and held up against the wall, "Now you listen to me Shinji Ikari, I will not hear any of that kind of talk coming from you do you understand me! There is too much at stake to allow yourself to wallow in your own self-pity and shame. That's what the Angels want from you and you're playing right into their hands. They want you to doubt yourself, they want you to feel useless and powerless just as you did before in your previous life, because doing so will make you weaker to fight them. Do you understand! This is not your fault, this is their fault and it is up to you to stop them! Do you understand me Shinji Ikari!" Shouted Kaworu, his red eyes glowing brightly.

"How can I do that! I had Asuka and Rei to back me up before, but now I'm on my own!" Shinji shot back

"You're not on your own, and you're not like how you were before don't you get it. You're different, you've changed!" Yelled Kaworu

"Just because I got older doesn't mean that I've changed!" Said Shinji

"That's not what I mean." Said Kaworu as he released Shinji from his grip. "I mean you've changed both physically and spiritually. And I don't mean just by getting older either…" Kaworu sighed as he thought of a way to tell Shinji, and what implications it would have on the rest of his life. "You're one of us now…"

"What? What is that supposed to mean?" he asked

"I mean exactly what I said Shinji… You're one of us now… You're an Angel, like me, or at least half-angel anyway." Said Kaworu

Shinji couldn't believe what he was hearing, Kaworu was actually telling him that he was an Angel, and he didn't want to believe it.

"What the hell are you saying? That's not possible? I can't be an Angel!" said Shinji

Kaworu slowly turned his gaze back at Shinji, seeing the distress in his eyes. But it couldn't be helped, he had to know the truth. "Yes it is possible, and yes you are one of us Shinji. I know you don't want to believe it, but it's true… You are Adam."


End file.
